LIBRARY 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OE  CALIFORNIA 

SANTA  BARBARA 


PRESENTED  BY 
MRS.    HENRY  ADAMS 


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FIFTY-ONE   YEARS    OF   VICTORIAN   LIFE 


J)liir(j<nxt   Lhuuitrss  o/   Jcrscii 


FIFTY-ONE  YEARS 
OF  VICTORIAN  LIFE 


BY     THE     DOWAGER 
COUNTESS  OF  JERSEY 


NEW  YORK 

E.  P.  DUTTON  AND  COMPANY 

1922 


DEDICATED 
TO 

MY     CHILDREN 

AND 

GRANDCHILDREN 


Printed  in  Great  Britain  by 
Hasell,  Waison  &   Viney,  Ld.,  London  and  Aylesbury. 


Sam  A  iJ--ii:i!Aj:A 


'  What  is  this  child  of  man  that  can  conquer 
Time  and  that  is  braver  than  Love  ? 
Even  Memory." 

LOBD   DUNSANY. 


Though  "  a  Sorrow's  Crown  of  Sorrow  " 
Be  •'  remembering  happier  things," 

Present  joy  will  shine  the  brighter 
If  our  morn  a  radiance  flings. 

We  perchance  may  thwart  the  future 

If  we  will  not  look  before, 
And  upon  a  past  which  pains  us 

We  may  fasten  Memory's  door. 

But  we  will  not,  cannot,  banish 
Bygone  pleasure  from  our  side. 

Nor  will  doubt,  beyond  the  storm-cloud. 
Shall  be  Light  at  Eventide. 

M.  E.  J. 


CONTENTS 
CHAPTER   I 

AN    EARLY   VICTORIAN    CHILD 

The  Duko  of  Wellington — Travelling  in  the  Fifties — Governesses — 
"  Mrs.  Gailey  " — Queen  Victoria  at  Stoneleigh — A  narrow  escape — Life 
at  Stoneleigh — Rectors   and   vicars — Theatricals        .  .  pp.  1-22 

CHAPTER    II 

A   VICTORIAN    GIRL 

Mentone — Genoa — Trafalgar  veterans — Lord  Muncastcr  and  Creek 
brigands — The  Grosvenor  family — Uncles  and  aunts — Confiiiuation — 
"  Ooraing  out  " — Ireland — Killarney — The  O'Donoghue — Mj'ths  and 
legenda — The  giant  Benadadda        .....  pp.  23-50 

CHAPTER    III 

MARRIAGE 

Fanny  Kemble — An  old-fashioned  Christmas — A  pre-matrimonial 
party — Fonthill  Abbey — Engagement — Married  to  Lord  Jersey    pp.  61-64 


CHAPTER    IV 

V  EARLY    MARRIED    LIFE 

Lord  Jersey's  mother — In  London — Isola  Bella,  Cannes — Oxfordshire 
neighbourH — Caverefiold  Church — Life  at  Middloton — Mr.  Disraeli — 
Froude  and  Kingwloy — JainuM  KubhoII  LowjiII — T.  HughoH  and  J.  K.  Lowell 
— Mr.  (Jladiitono  on  Immortality — Thought-reading — Tom  Hughus  and 
Kugby,  TonnosMee — Ourdinul  Newman         ....         pp.  66-93 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    V 

BERLIN   AND    THE   JUBILEE    OF    1887 

Sarah  Bernhardt— Death  of  Gilbert  Leigh — Jn  Italy,  1884 — Court  Ball 
in  Berlin — The  Crown  Prince  Frederick — Prince  Bismarck — Conversation 
with  Bismarck — Bismarck  and  Lord  Salisbury — Thanksgiving  Service — 
Trials  of  Court  Officials — The  Naval  Review — Knowsley — Apotheosis 
of  the  Queen PP.  94-121 

CHAPTER    VI 

GHOST    STORIES   AND    TRAVELS   IN   GREECE 

Lord  Halsbury's  ghost  story — The  ghostly  reporter — A  Jubilee 
sermon — Marathon — Miss  Tricoupi — Nauplia — The  Laurium  Mines — 
Hadji  Petros — Olympia — Zante pp.  122-140 

CHAPTER    VII 

VOYAGE  TO  INDIA — HYDERABAD 

Mr.  Joseph  Chamberlain — Departure  for  India — Colonel  Olcott  and 
Professor  Max  Miiller — Sir  Samuel  Baker — Mahableshwar — H.  H,  the 
Aga  Khan — Races  at  Hyderabad — -H.H.  the  Nizam  of  Hyderabad — 
Purdah  ladies — Breakfast  in  a  zenana         ....    pp.  141-161 

CHAPTER    VIII 

MADRAS,    CALCUTTA,    AND    BENARES 

Brahmin  philosophers — Faith  of  educated  Hindus — Theosophists  at 
Adyar — The  Ranees  of  Travancore — The  Princesses  of  Tanjore — "The 
Heart  of  Montrose  " — The  Palace  of  Madura — Rous  Peter's  Sacred  Door 
— Loyalty  of  native  Indians — Passengers  on  the  Pundua — The  Brahmo 
Somaj — Maharajah  of  Benares — Marriages  of  infants  and  widows 

pp.  162-187 

CHAPTER    IX 

NORTHERN    INDIA   AND    JOURNEY   HOME 

The  Relief  of  Lucknow — View  from  the  Kotab  Minar — Sekundra  and 
Futtehpore  Sekree — The  legend  of  Krishna — The  Jains — The  Mahara- 
jah of  Bhownuggar — Baroda — English  as  Lingua  Franca — Meditations 
of  a  Western  wanderer — An  English  plum-pudding — The  Greek  Royal 
Family — Original  derivations    ......     pp.  188-211 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER    X 

WINDSOR — EGYPT   AND    SYRIA 

Dinner  at  Windsor — Voyage  up  the  Nile — Choucry  Pasha,  Princess 
Nazli — The  Pigmies — Inn  of  the  Good  Samaritan — The  Holy  City — 
Balbec — Damascus,  Lady  Ellenborough — Oriental  methods  of  trade — 
Smyrna — Constantinople — The  Selamlik — The  Orient  Express — Story  of 
a  picture pp.  212-239 


CHAPTER     XI 

FIRST    IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA 

War  Office  red  tape — Balmoral — Farewell  to  England — Voyage  on 
the  Arcadia — The  Federation  Convention — The  delegates — The  Blue 
Mountains — Sir  Alfred  Stephen — Domestic  Conditions — Correspondence 
with  Lord  Derby — Labour  Legislation — The  Ex-Kaiser — Lord  Derby's 
poem       ..........    pp.  240-266 


CHAPTER    XII 

FURTHER   IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA — NEW   ZEALAND 
AND    NEW    CALEDONIA 

Yarrangobilly  Caves — Dunodin — The  New  Zealand  Sounds — Hot 
Springs  of  New  Zealand — Huia  Onslow — Noumea — The  Governor  of  New 
Caledonia — The  Convict  Settlement — Convicts  in  former  days — Death  of 
Lord  Ancram pp.  266-280 


CHAPTER    XIII 

TONGA    AND    SAMOA 

Tongan  ladies — Arrival  at  Apia — German  plantations — R.  L.  Stevenson 
— King  Malifitoa — Tho  Enchanti^d  Forest — King  Mataafa — The  Kava 
Coromony — A  native  danoo — Minnionaries — Samoan  niytliology — Doniro 
for  Englinh  protection — Vitiit  from  Tamaaese — -In  Object  of  I'ity — 
Couragij  of  R.  L.  Stovousoa        ......     pp.  287-318 


X  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    XIV 

DEPARTUEE  FROM  AUSTRALIA — CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

Bushrangers — Oircumstantial  evidence — The  Great  Barrier  Reef — 
Coloured  labour — Hong-Kong — Canton — The  Viceroy  of  Canton — 
Japanese  scenery — Interview  with  the  Empress — The  Sacred  Mirror  of 
the  Sun  Goddess — Ohi'istianity  in  Japan — Daimios  of  old  Japan — Japanese 
friends pp.  319-345 

CHAPTER    XV 

JOURNEY   HOME — THE    NILE — LORD    KITCHENER 

The  well-forged  link  of  Empire — Columbus  discovers  America — The 
Mayor  cuts  his  hair — The  pageant  "  America  " — Back  at  Osterley — The 
dahabyah  Herodotus — Escape  of  Slatin  Pasha — How  a  King  and  an 
Arab   evaded   orders — The   Dervishes — Lord   Kitchener      .     pp.  346-368 

CHAPTER    XVI 

DIAMOND   JUBILEE   AND    DEATH   OF    QUEEN   VICTORIA 

Mr.  Chamberlain,  Colonial  Secretary — The  Queen  at  Temple  Bar — 
The  South  African  War — Indian  princesses — Lord  and  Lady  Northoote 
— The  Victoria  League — Mr.   Chamberlain's  letter        .  .     pp.  369-383 

Index pp.  385-392 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 
Margaret,  Countess  of  Jersey  (photogravure)  Frontispiece 

After  the  portrait  bv  Ellis  Robert*  at  Osterlty  Park. 

tkCmO  PAGE 

Stoneleigii  Abbey         .         .         .         .         •         .18 
The  Library,  Middleton  Park    ....       68 

From  a  pholograph  by  the  prestnt  Countets  oj  Jertey. 

Middleton  Park  .......       68 

From  a  photograph  by  the  preterit  Countess  o]  Jersey. 

Osterley  Park     .......     238 

From  a  photograph  by  W.  U.  Orove. 

Group  at  Middleton  Park,  Christmas,  1904        .     370 


xi 


FIFTY-ONE    YEARS 
OF  VICTORIAN  LIFE 

CHAPTER  I 

AX   EARLY   VICTORIAN   CHILD 

I  WAS  born  at  Stoneleigh  Abbey  on  October  29th,  1849, 

My  father  has  told  me  that  immediately  afterwards 

— I  suppose  next  day — I  was  held  up  at  the  window  for 

the  members  of  the  North  Warwickshire  Hunt  to  drink 

my  health.     I  fear  that  their  kind  wishes  were  so  far 

of  no  avail  that  I  never  became  a  sportswoman,  though 

I  always  lived  amongst  keen  followers  of  the  hounds. 

For  many  years  the  first  meet  of  the  season  was  held  at 

Stoneleigh,    and    large    hospitality    extended    to    the 

gentlemen  and  farmers  within  the  Abbey  and  to  the 

crowd  without.     Almost  anyone  could  get  bread  and 

cheese  and  beer  outside  for  the  asking,  till  at  last  some 

limit  had  to  be  placed  when  it  was  reported  that  special 

trains  were  being  run  from  Birmingham  to  a  neighbouring 

town  to  enable  the  populace  to  attend  this  sporting 

carnival  at  my  father's  expense.     He  was  a  splendid 

man  and  a    fearless  rider  while  health  and  strength 

permitted — rather  too  fearless  at  times — and    among 

the  many  applicants  for  his  bounty  were  men  who  based 

their  claims  to  assistance  on  the  alleged  fact  that  they 

had  picked    up  Lord  Leigh  after  a  fall  out  liuntiiig. 

It  was  always  mueli  more  didicult  to  restrain  him  from 

giving  than  to  induce  him  to  give. 

1 


2  AN    EARLY   VICTORIAN    CHILD  [ch.  i 

My  mother,  a  daughter  of  Lord  Westminster,  told  me 
that  from  the  moment  she  saw  him  she  had  never  any 
doubt  as  to  whom  she  would  marry.  No  wonder. 
He  was  exceptionally  handsome  and  charming,  and 
I  believe  he  was  as  prompt  in  falling  in  love  with  her 
as  she  confessed  to  having  been  with  him.  An  old 
relative  who  remembered  their  betrothal  told  me  that 
she  knew  what  was  coming  when  Mr.  Leigh  paid  £5  for 
some  trifle  at  a  bazaar  where  Lady  Caroline  Grosvenor 
was  selling.  The  sole  reason  for  recording  this  is  to  note 
that  fancy  bazaars  were  in  vogue  so  long  ago  as  1848. 
My  mother  was  only  twenty  when  she  married,  and 
very  small  and  pretty.  I  have  heard  that  soon  after 
their  arrival  at  Stoneleigh  my  father  gave  great  satis- 
faction to  the  villagers,  who  were  eagerly  watching 
to  see  the  bride  out  walking,  by  lifting  his  little  wife  in 
his  arms  and  carrying  her  over  a  wet  place  in  the 
road.  This  was  typical  of  his  unfailing  devotion  through 
fifty-seven  years  of  married  life — a  devotion  which  she 
returned  in  full  measure. 

I  was  the  eldest  child  of  the  young  parents,  and  as 
my  grandfather,  Chandos  Lord  Leigh,  was  then  alive, 
our  home  for  a  short  time  was  at  Adlestrop  House  in 
Gloucestershire,  which  also  belonged  to  the  family  ;  but 
my  grandfather  died  and  we  moved  to  Stoneleigh 
when  I  was  far  too  young  to  remember  any  other  home. 
In  those  days  we  drove  by  road  from  one  house  to  the 
other,  and  on  one  occasion  my  father  undertook  to 
convey  my  cradle  in  his  dog- cart,  in  the  space  under 
the  back  seat  usually  allotted  to  dogs.  In  the  middle 
of  a  village  the  door  of  this  receptacle  flew  open  and 
the  cradle  shot  out  into  the  road,  slightly  embarrassing 
to  a  very  young  man. 

About  the  earliest  thing  I  can  recollect  was  seeing 


THE   DUKE    OF   WELLINGTON  3 

the  Crystal  Palace  Building  when  in  Hyde  Park.  I 
do  not  suppose  that  I  was  taken  inside,  but  1  distinctly 
remember  the  great  glittering  glass  Palace  when  I  was 
driving  with  my  mother.  Of  course  we  had  pictures  of 
the  Great  Exhibition  and  heard  plenty  about  it,  but 
oddly  enough  one  print  that  impressed  me  most  was 
a  French  caricature  which  represented  an  Englishman 
distributmg  the  prizes  to  an  expectant  throng  with 
words  to  this  effect :  "  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  some 
intrusive  foreigners  have  come  over  to  compete  with 
our  people  and  have  had  the  impertinence  to  make 
some  things  better  than  we  do.  You  will,  however, 
quite  understand  that  none  of  the  prizes  will  be  given 
to  these  outsiders."  It  was  my  earliest  lesson  in 
doubting  the  lasting  effects  of  attempts  to  unite  rival 
countries  in  any  League  of  Nations. 

Somewhere  about  this  time  I  had  the  honour  of 
being  presented  to  the  great  Duke  of  Wellington  in 
the  long  Gallery  (now,  alas !  no  more)  at  Grosvenor 
House.  I  do  not  remember  the  incident,  but  he  was 
the  Hero  in  those  days,  and  I  was  told  it  so  often  that 
I  felt  as  it  I  could  recall  it.  My  father  said  he  kissed 
me,  but  my  mother's  more  modest  claim  was  that  he 
shook  hands. 

My  parents  were  each  endowed  with  nine  brothers 
and  sisters — i.e.  my  father  was  one  of  ten  who  all  lived 
till  past  middle  life,  my  mother  was  one  of  thirteen  of 
whom  ten  attained  a  full  complement  of  years.  In- 
deed, when  my  parents  celebrated  their  golden  wedding 
they  had  sixteen  brothers  and  sisters  still  alive.  As 
almost  all  these  uncles  and  aunts  married  and  most  of 
them  had  large  families,  it  will  be  readily  believed  that 
we  did  not  lack  cousins,  and  the  long  Gallery  was  a 
splendid  gathering-place  for  the  ramifications  of   the 


4  AN   EARLY   VICTORIAN   CHILD  [ch.  i 

Grosvenor  side  of  our  family.  Apart  from  the  imposing 
pictures,  it  was  full  of  treasures,  such  as  a  miniature 
crystal  river  which  flowed  when  wound  up  and  had 
little  swans  swimming  upon  it.  It  was  here,  later  on 
in  my  girlhood,  that  I  saw  the  first  Japanese  Embassy 
to  England,  stately  Daimios  or  Samurai  in  full  native 
costume  and  with  two  swords — a  great  joy  to  all  of 
us  children. 

To  go  back  to  early  recollections — my  next  clear 
impression  is  of  the  Crimean  War  and  knitting  a  pair 
of  red  mufietees  for  the  soldiers.  Plenty  of  "  com- 
forts "  were  sent  out  even  in  those  days.  Sir  George 
Higginson  once  told  me  that  when  boxes  of  miscellaneous 
gifts  arrived  it  was  the  custom  to  hold  an  auction. 
On  one  occasion  among  the  contents  were  several 
copies  of  Boyle's  Court  Guide  and  two  pairs  of  ladies' 
stays !  So  useful !  The  latter  were  bestowed  upon 
the  French  vivandi^re.     No  W.A.A.C.s  then  to  benefit. 

After  the  Crimean  War  came  the  Indian  Mutiny, 
and  our  toy  soldiers  represented  English  and  Sepoys 
instead  of  English  and  Russians.  Children  in  each 
generation  I  suppose  follow  wars  by  their  toys.  Despite 
the  comradeship  of  English  and  French  in  the  Crimea, 
I  do  not  believe  that  we  ever  quite  ceased  to  regard 
France  as  the  hereditary  foe.  A  contemporary  cousin 
was  said  to  have  effaced  France  from  the  map  of 
Europe  ;   I  do  not  think  we  were  quite  so  daring. 

In  all,  I  rejoiced  in  five  brothers  and  two  sisters,  but 
the  fifth  brother  died  at  fourteen  months  old  before 
our  youngest  sister  was  born.  His  death  was  our  first 
real  sorrow  and  a  very  keen  one.  Long  before  that, 
however,  when  we  were  only  three  children,  Gilbert, 
the  brother  next  to  me,  a  baby  sister  Agnes,  and  my- 
self, our  adventurous  parents  took  us  to  the  South  of 


TRAVELLING   IN   THE   FIFTIES  5 

France.  I  was  four  years  old  at  the  time  and  the 
existence  of  a  foreign  land  was  quite  a  new  light  to 
me.  I  well  remember  running  into  the  nursery  and 
triumphantly  exclaiming,  "  There  is  a  country  called 
France  and  I  am  going  there !  " 

My  further  recollections  are  vague  until  we  reached 
Lyons,  where  the  railway  ended  and  our  large  travel- 
ling carriage  brought  from  England  was  put  on  a  boat 
— steamer,  I  suppose — and  thus  conveyed  to  Avignon. 
Thence  we  drove,  sleeping  at  various  towns,  until  we 
reached  Mentone,  where  we  spent  some  time,  and  I 
subsequently  learnt  that  we  were  then  the  only  English 
in  the  place.  I  think  that  my  parents  were  very  brave 
to  take  about  such  young  children,  but  I  suppose  the 
experiment  answered  pretty  well,  as  a  year  later  they 
again  took  Gilbert  and  me  to  France — this  time  to 
Normandy,  where  I  spent  my  sixth  birthday,  saw  the 
great  horses  dragging  bales  of  cotton  along  the  quays 
at  Rouen,  and  was  enchanted  with  the  ivory  toys  at 
Dieppe. 

I  think  that  people  who  could  afford  it  travelled 
more  in  former  days  than  is  realised.  Both  my  grand- 
parents made  prolonged  tours  with  most  of  their  elder 
children.  My  grandfather  Westminster  took  my  mother 
and  her  elder  sisters  in  his  yacht  to  Constantinople  and 
Rome.  My  mother  well  remembered  some  of  her 
experiences,  including  purchases  from  a  Turkish  shop- 
keeper who  kept  a  large  cat  on  his  counter  and  served 
various  comestibles  with  his  hands,  wiping  tliem  be- 
tween each  sale  on  the  animal's  fur.  At  Rome  she 
told  me  how  she  and  one  of  her  sisters,  girls  of  some 
twelve  and  thirteen  years  old,  used  to  wander  out  alone 
into  the  Campagna  in  the  early  morning,  wliich  seems 
very  strange  in  view  of  the  stories  of  restraint  placed 
2 


6  AN    EARLY   VICTORIAN    CHILD         [ch.  i 

upon  children  in  bygone  days.  As  to  my  grandfather 
Leigh,  I  believe  he  travelled  with  his  family  for  about 
two  years,  to  Switzerland,  France  and  the  North  of 
Italy.  They  had  three  carriages,  one  for  the  parents, 
one  for  the  schoolroom,  and  one  for  the  nursery.  A 
courier  escorted  them,  and  an  avant-courier  rode  on 
in  front  with  bags  of  five-franc  pieces  to  secure  lodgings 
when  they  migrated  from  one  place  to  another.  On 
one  occasion  on  the  Riviera  they  met  the  then  Grand 
Duke  Constantine,  who  thrust  his  head  out  of  the 
window  and  exclaimed  "  Toute  Angleterre  est  en 
route  !  " 

After  our  return  from  Normandy  we  were  placed  in 
charge  of  a  resident  governess,  a  young  German,  but 
as  far  as  I  can  recollect  she  had  very  little  control 
over  us.  We  discovered  that  the  unlucky  girl,  though 
of  German  parentage,  had  been  born  in  Russia,  and 
with  the  unconscious  cruelty  of  children  taunted  her 
on  this  account.  Anyhow  her  stay  was  short,  and 
she  was  succeeded  about  a  year  later  by  an  English- 
woman, Miss  Custarde,  who  kept  us  in  very  good  order 
and  stayed  till  she  married  when  I  was  fourteen.  Her 
educational  efforts  were  supplemented  by  masters  and 
mistresses  during  the  London  season  and  by  French 
resident  governesses  in  the  winter  months,  but  I  do 
not  think  that  we  were  at  all  overworked. 

I  doubt  whether  Miss  Custarde  would  have  been 
considered  highly  educated  according  to  modern  stan- 
dards, but  she  was  very  good  in  teaching  us  to  look 
up  information  for  ourselves,  which  was  just  as  useful 
as  anything  else.  Her  strongest  point  was  music,  but 
that  she  could  not  drive  into  me,  and  my  music  lessons 
were  a  real  penance  to  teacher  and  pupil  alike.  She 
would  give  me  lectures  during  their  progress  on  such 


GOVERNESSES  7 

topics  as  the  Parable  of   the  Talents — quite   ignoring 
the  elementary  fact  that  though  I  could  learn  most  of 
my  lessons  quickly  enough  I  had  absolutely  no  talent 
for  music.     She  was,   however,   a   remarkable  woman 
with  great  influence,  not  only  over  myself,  but  over 
my  younger  aunts  and   over  other  men  and  women. 
She  was  very  orderly,  and  proud  of  that  quality,  but 
she  worked  too  much  on  my  conscience,  making  me 
regard  trivial  faults  as  actual  sins  which  prevented  her 
from  kissing  me  or  showing  me  affection — an  ostracism 
which  generally  resulted  in  violent  fits  of  penitence. 
She  had  more  than  one  admirer  before  she  ended  by 
marrying  a  schoolmaster,  with  whom  she  used  to  take 
long  walks  in  the  holidays.     One  peculiarity  was  that 
she  would  give  m.e  sketches  of  admirers  and  get  me  to 
write  long  stories  embodying  their  imaginary  adven- 
tures.    I  suppose  these  were  shown  as  great  jokes  to 
the  heroes  and  their  friends.     Of  course  she  did  not 
think  I  knew  the  "  inwardness  "  of  her  various  friend- 
ships, equally  of  course  as  time  went  on  I  understood 
them  perfectly.     Miss  Custarde  is  not  the  only  gover- 
ness I  have  known  who  acquired  extraordinary  influ- 
ence over  her  pupils.     In  Marcel  Prevost's  novel  Anges 
Gardiens,    which    represents    the    dangers    to    French 
families  of  engaging  foreign  governesses,  he  makes  the 
Belgian,  Italian,  and  German  women  all  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent  immoral,  but  the  Englishwoman,  though 
at  least  as  detestable  as  the  others,  is  not  immoral ; 
the  great  evil  which  she  inflicts  on  the  family  which 
engages  her  is  the  absolute  power  which  she  acquires 
over  her  pupil.     The   whole  book  is  very  unfair  and 
M.  Prevost  seems  to  overlook  the  slur  which  he  casts 
on  his  own  countrymen,  as  none  of  the  men  appear  able 
to  resist  the  wiles  of  the  sirens  engaged  to  look  after 


8  AN   EARLY   VICTORIAN    CHILD  [ch.  i 

the  girls  of  their  families  ;  but  it  is  odd  that  he  should 
realise  the  danger  of  undue  influence  and  attribute  it 
only  to  the  Englishwoman.  Why  should  this  be  a 
characteristic  of  English  governesses — supposing  his 
experience  (borne  out  by  my  own)  to  be  typical  ?  Is 
it  an  Englishwoman's  love  of  power  and  faculty  for 
concentration  on  the  object  which  she  wishes  to  attain  ? 

We  liked  several  of  our  foreign  governesses  well 
enough,  but  they  exercised  no  particular  influence — 
and  as  a  rule  their  engagements  were  only  temporary. 
I  do  not  think  that  Miss  Custarde  gave  them  much 
opportunity  of  ascendancy.  With  one  her  relations 
were  so  strained  that  the  two  ladies  had  their  suppers 
at  different  tables  in  the  schoolroom,  and  when  the 
Frenchwoman  wanted  the  salt  she  rang  the  bell  for  the 
schoolroom-maid  to  bring  it  from  her  English  colleague's 
table.  However,  I  owed  a  great  deal  to  Miss  Custarde 
and  know  that  her  affection  for  all  of  us  was  very  real. 
She  died  in  the  autumn  of  1920,  having  retained  all 
her  faculties  till  an  advanced  age. 

After  all  no  human  being  could  compete  with  our 
mother  in  the  estimation  of  any  of  her  children.  Small 
and  fragile  and  often  suffering  from  ill-health,  she  had 
almost  unbounded  power  over  everyone  with  whom 
she  came  in  contact,  and  for  her  to  express  an  opinion 
on  any  point  created  an  axiom  from  which  there  was 
no  appeal.  As  middle-aged  men  and  women  we  have 
often  laughed  over  the  way  in  which  we  have  still 
accepted  "  mama  said "  so-and-so  as  a  final  verdict. 
As  children  our  faith  not  only  in  her  wisdom  but  in  her 
ability  was  unlimited.  I  remember  being  regarded  as 
almost  a  heretic  by  the  younger  ones  because  I  ven- 
tured to  doubt  whether  she  could  make  a  watch.  Vainly 
did  I  hedge  by  asserting  that  I  was  certain  that  if  she 


"MRS.    GAILEY"  9 

had  learnt  she  could  make  the  most  beautiful  watch 
in  the  world — I  had  infringed  the' first  article  of  family 
faith  by  thinking  that  there  was  anything  which  she 
could  not  do  by  the  uninstructed  light  of  nature.  She 
was  a  good  musician,  and  a  really  excellent  amateur 
artist — her  water-colour  drawings  charming.  Her  know- 
ledge of  histor}^  made  it  delightful  to  read  aloud  to  her, 
as  she  seemed  as  if  the  heroes  and  heroines  of  bygone 
times  had  been  her  personal  acquaintance.  Needless  to 
say  her  personal  care  for  everyone  on  my  father's  pro- 
perty was  untiring,  and  the  standard  of  the  schools  in 
the  various  villages  was  maintained  at  a  height  un- 
common in  days  when  Education  Acts  were  not  so 
frequent  and  exacting  as  in  later  years. 

Another  great  character  in  our  home  was  our  old 
nurse.  For  some  reason  she  was  never  called  Nanna, 
but  always  "  Mrs.  Gailey."  The  daughter  of  a  small 
tradesman,  she  was  a  woman  of  some  education — she 
had  even  learnt  a  little  French  and  had  been  a  con- 
siderable reader.  Though  a  disciple  of  Spurgeon,  she 
had  lived  as  nurse  with  my  mother's  cousin  the  Dulce 
of  Norfolk  in  the  days  when  the  girls  of  the  family 
were  Protestants  though  the  boys  were  Roman  Catholics. 
When  the  Duchess  (daughter  of  Lord  Lyons)  went  over 
to  the  Roman  Church  the  Protestant  nurse's  position 
became  untenable,  as  the  daughters  had  to  follow  their 
mother.  She  told  us  that  this  was  a  great  distress  at 
first  to  the  eldest  girl  Victoria  (afterwards  Hope-Scott), 
for  at  twelve  years  old  she  was  able  to  feel  the  uprooting 
of  her  previous  faith.  The  other  sisters  were  too  young 
to  mind.  Gailey's  idol,  however,  was  Lord  Maltravers 
(the  late  Duke),  who  must  have  been  as  attractive  a 
boy  as  he  became  deliglitful  a  man. 

Gailey  came  to  us  when  I  was  about  four,  my  first 


10  AN   EARLY   VICTORIAN   CHILD  [ch.  i 

nurse,  who  had  been  my  wet-nurse,  having  married  the 
coachman.  Our  first  encounter  took  place  when  I  was 
already  in  my  cot,  and  I  announced  to  her  that  if  she 
stayed  a  hundred  years  I  should  not  love  her  as  I  had 
done  "  Brownie/'  "  And  if  I  stay  a  hundred  years,'* 
was  the  repartee,  "  I  shall  not  love  you  as  I  did  the 
little  boy  I  have  just  left  " — so  we  started  fair.  Never- 
theless she  was  an  excellent  nurse  and  a  fascinating 
companion.  She  could  tell  stories  by  the  hour  and 
knew  all  sorts  of  old-fashioned  games  which  we  played 
in  the  nursery  on  holiday  afternoons. 

The  great  joy  of  the  schoolroom  children  was  to  join 
the  little  ones  after  tea  and  to  sit  in  a  circle  while  she 
told  us  either  old  fairy  tales,  or  more  frequently  her 
own  versions  of  novels  which  she  had  read  and  of  which 
she  changed  the  names  and  condensed  the  incidents  in 
a  most  ingenious  manner.  On  Sunday  evenings  Pil- 
grim's Progress  in  her  own  words  was  substituted  for 
the  novels.  Miss  Custarde  could  inflict  no  greater 
punishment  for  failure  in  our  "  saying  lessons  "  than  to 
keep  us  out  of  the  nursery.  Gailey  stayed  with  us  till 
some  time  after  my  marriage  and  then  retired  on  a 
pension. 

The  Scottish  housekeeper,  Mrs.  Wallace,  was  also  a 
devoted  friend  and  a  great  dispenser  of  cakes,  ices,  and 
home-made  cowslip  and  ginger  wine.  Rose-water, 
elder-flower  water,  and  all  stillroom  mysteries  found 
an  expert  in  her,  and  she  even  concocted  mead  from  an 
old  recipe.  Few  people  can  have  made  mead  in  this 
generation — it  was  like  very  strong  rather  sweet  beer. 
We  all  loved  "  Walley  " — but  she  failed  us  on  one 
occasion.  Someone  said  that  she  had  had  an  uncle 
who  had  fought  at  Waterloo,  so  we  rushed  to  her  room 
to  question  her  on  this  hero's  prowess.     "  What  did 


QUEEN  VICTORIA  AT  STONELEIGH  11 

your  uncle  do  at  Waterloo  ?  "  The  reply  was  cautious 
and  rather  chilling  :  "  I  believe  he  hid  behind  his  horse.'* 
She  looked  after  all  our  dogs  and  was  supposed  to  sleep 
with  eight  animals  and  birds  in  her  room. 

In  the  summer  of  1858  a  great  event  occurred  in 
the  annals  of  Stoneleigh.  Queen  Victoria  stayed  at 
my  father's  for  two  nights  in  order  to  open  Aston  Hall 
and  Park,  an  old  Manor  House  and  property,  which  had 
belonged  to  the  Bracebridge  family  and  had  been 
secured  for  the  recreation  of  the  people  of  Birmingham. 
Naturally  there  was  great  excitement  at  the  prospect. 
For  months  beforehand  workmen  were  employed  in 
the  renovation  and  redecoration  of  the  Abbey  and  its 
precincts.  Many  years  afterwards  an  ex-coachpainter 
met  one  of  my  sons  and  recalled  to  him  the  glorious 
days  of  preparation  for  Her  Majesty's  visit.  "  Even 
the  pigsties  were  painted,  sir,"  said  he. 

Stoneleigh  is  a  large  mass  of  buildings — parts  of  the 
basement  remain  from  the  original  Abbey  of  the  Cis- 
tercian monks.  On  these  was  built  a  picturesque  house 
about  the  beginning  of  the  seventeenth  century,  early 
in  the  eighteenth  century  a  large  mansion  was  added 
in  the  classical  Italian  style,  and  about  a  hundred  years 
later  a  new  wing  was  erected  to  unite  the  two  portions. 
The  old  Abbey  Church  stood  in  what  is  now  a  lawn 
between  the  house  and  the  ancient  Gateway,  which 
bears  the  arms  of  Henry  II.  To  put  everything  in 
order  was  no  light  task.  The  rooms  for  tlie  Queen  and 
Prince  Consort  were  enclosed  on  one  side  of  the  corridor 
leading  to  them  by  a  temporary  wall,  and  curtained 
off  where  the  corridor  led  to  the  main  staircase.  In 
addition  to  every  other  preparation,  the  outline  of  the 
gateway,  the  main  front  of  the  house,  and  some  of  tlie 
ornamental    flower-beds    were    traced    out    with    little 


12  AN   EARLY   VICTORIAN    CHILD         [ch.  i 

lamps — I  think  there  were  22,000 — which  were  lighted 
at  night  with  truly  fairy-like  effect.  By  that  time  we 
were  five  children — the  house  was  crowded  in  every 
nook  and  corner  with  guests,  servants,  and  attendants 
of  all  kinds.  Somehow  my  brother  Gilbert  and  I  were 
stowed  away  in  a  room  with  two  or  three  maids,  but 
the  "  little  ones,'"  Agnes  and  two  small  brothers  Dudley 
and  Rupert,  were  sent  to  the  keeper's  house  in  the  Deer- 
park.  That  house  was  a  delightful  old-world  building 
standing  on  a  hill  with  a  lovely  view,  and  we  were 
occasionally  sent  there  for  a  day  or  two's  change  of  air, 
to  our  great  joy. 

On  the  occasion  of  the  Royal  Visit,  however,  Gilbert 
and  I  quite  realised  our  privilege  in  being  kept  in  the 
Abbey  and  allowed  to  stand  with  our  mother  and  other 
members  of  the  family  to  welcome  the  Queen  as  the 
carriage  clattered  up  with  its  escort  of  Yeomanry.  My 
father  had,  of  course,  met  Her  Majesty  at  the  station. 
The  Queen  was  more  than  gracious  and  at  once  won 
the  hearts  of  the  children — but  we  did  not  equally  appre- 
ciate the  Prince  Consort.  Assuredly  he  was  excellent, 
but  he  was  very  stiff  and  reserved,  and  I  suppose  that 
we  were  accustomed  to  attentions  from  our  father's 
guests  which  he  did  not  think  fit  to  bestow  upon  us, 
though  the  Queen  gave  them  in  ample  measure. 

We  were  allowed  to  join  the  large  party  of  guests 
after  dinner,  and  either  the  first  or  the  second  evening 
witnessed  with  interest  and  amusement  the  presenta- 
tion of  the  country  neighbours  to  the  Queen.  Having 
been  carefully  instructed  as  to  our  own  bows  and 
curtsies,  we  naturally  became  very  critical  of  the 
"  grown-up  "  salutations,  particularly  when  one  nervous 
lady  on  passing  the  royal  presence  tossed  her  head 
back  into  the  air  by  way  of  reverence.     I  think  the 


THE   PRINCE   CONSORT  13 

same  night  my  father  escorted  the  Queen  into  the 
garden  in  front  of  the  house,  which  was  separated 
from  part  of  the  Park  by  a  stone  balustrade.  In  this 
park-ground  several  thousand  people  had  assembled 
who  spontaneously  broke  into  "  God  save  the  Queen  " 
when  she  appeared.  Fortunately  the  glorious  hot 
summer  night  (July)  was  ideal  for  the  greeting. 

One  morning  our  small  sister  and  brothers  were 
brought  to  the  Abbey  "  to  be  presented."  Agnes  made 
a  neat  little  curtsy,  though  we  unkindly  asserted  that 
it  was  behind  the  Queen's  back,  but  the  baby  boys 
were  overcome  by  shyness  and  turned  away  from  the 
Queen's  kisses.  Unfortunate  children  !  they  were  never 
allowed  to  forget  this  ! 

Poor  Prince  Consort  lost  his  last  chance  of  good 
feeling  from  Gilbert  and  myself  when  he  and  the  Queen 
went  to  plant  memorial  trees.  We  rushed  forward  to 
be  in  time  to  see  the  performance,  but  he  sternly  swept 
us  from  the  royal  path.  No  doubt  he  was  justified  in 
bidding  us  "  stand  back,"  but  he  might  have  remem- 
bered that  we  were  children,  and  his  host's  children, 
and  done  it  more  gently. 

I  shall  refer  to  our  dear  Queen  later  on,  but  may 
here  insert  a  little  incident  of  her  childhood  which 
came  to  my  knowledge  accidentally.  In  the  village 
belonging  to  my  married  home,  Middleton  Stoney, 
there  was  a  middle-aged  policeman's  wife  who  culti- 
vated long  ringlets  on  either  side  of  her  face.  She 
once  confided  to  me  that  as  a  child  she  had  had  beau- 
tiful curls,  and  that,  living  near  Kensington  Palace, 
they  had  on  one  occasion  been  cut  off  to  make  "  riding 
curls  "  for  Princess  (afterwards  Queen)  Victoria,  who 
had  lost  her  own  hair  -  temporarily—  from  an  illness. 
The  child  had  not  liked  this  at  all,  though  she  had  been 


14  AN    EARLY    VICTORIAN   CHILD         [ch.  i 

given  some  of  the  Princess's  hair  as  an  equivalent.  I 
imagine  that  her  parents  received  more  substantial 
payment. 

Our  childhood  was  varied  by  a  good  deal  of  migra- 
tion. We  were  regularly  taken  each  year  about  May 
to  our  father's  London  house,  37  Portman  Square, 
where  we  entertained  our  various  cousins  at  tea-parties 
and  visited  them  in  return.  We  were  generally  taken 
in  the  autumn  to  some  seaside  place  such  as  Brighton, 
Hastings,  Rhyl,  or  the  Isle  of  Wight.  We  estimated 
the  merits  of  each  resort  largely  according  to  the 
amount  of  sand  which  it  afforded  us  to  dig  in,  and  I 
think  Shanklin  in  the  Isle  of  Wight  took  the  foremost 
place  in  our  affections. 

Two  years,  however,  had  specially  delightful  autumns, 
for  in  each  of  these  our  father  took  a  moor  in  Scotland 
— once  Kingairloch  and  the  second  time  Strontian. 
On  each  occasion  I  accompanied  my  parents ;  to 
Kingairloch,  Gilbert  (Gilly  he  was  always  called)  came 
also — the  second  year  he  spent  half  the  time  with  us 
and  then  returned  to  his  tutor  and  Agnes,  and  Dudley 
took  his  place  for  the  remainder  of  our  stay.  How  we 
enjoyed  the  fishing,  bathing  in  the  loch,  and  paddling 
in  the  burns !  Everyone  who  has  spent  the  shooting 
season  in  Scotland  knows  all  about  it,  and  our  experi- 
ences, though  absolutely  delightful,  did  not  differ  much 
from  other  people's.  These  visits  were  about  1860  and 
1861.  The  railroad  did  not  extend  nearly  so  far  as  at 
present  and  the  big  travelling- carriage  again  came  into 
play.  One  day  it  had  with  considerable  risk  to  be 
conveyed  over  four  ferries  and  ultimately  to  be  driven 
along  a  mountainous  road  after  dark.  As  far  as  I 
remember  we  had  postilions — certainly  the  charioteer 
or  charioteers  had  had  as  much  whisky  as  was  good 


A  NARROW   ESCAPE  15 

for  them,  with  the  result  that  the  back  wheels  of  the 
heavy  carriage  went  right  over  the  edge  of  a  precipice. 
The  servants  seated  behind  the  carriage  gave  themselves 
over  for  lost- — we  children  were  half- asleep  inside  and 
unconscious  of  our  peril,  when  the  horses  made  a 
desperate  bound  forward  and  dragged  the  carriage  back 
on  to  the  road.  We  were  taken  later  to  see  the  place 
with  the  marks  of  the  wheels  still  plain  on  the  rocky 
edge — and  young  as  we  were  could  quite  realise  w^hat 
we  had  escaped.  Both  shooting  lodges  were  situated 
in  the  midst  of  the  lovely  mountain  scenery  of  North 
Argyllshire,  possibly  Kingairloch  was  the  more  beau- 
tiful of  the  two.  One  day  from  dawn  to  eve  the  moun- 
tains echoed  and  re-echoed  with  the  plaintive  bleating 
of  flocks,  and  we  were  told  that  it  was  because  the 
lambs  were  taken  from  their  mothers.  I  still  possess 
some  verses  which  my  mother  wrote  on  that  occasion, 
and  transcribe  them  to  show  that  she  had  a  strong 
poetic  as  well  as  artistic  vein  : 

"  Far  over  the  mountains  and  over  the  corriea 
Echoed  loud  wailings  and  bleat  ings  the  day 
When  from  the  side  of  the  mothers  that  loved  them 
The  lambs  at  Kingairloch  were  taken  away. 

'*  Vainly,  poor  mothers,  ye  watch  in  the  valley 
The  nook  where  your  little  ones  gambolled  before. 
Vainly  ye  climb  to  the  heights  of  the  mountains — 
They  answer  you  not,  and  shall  answer  no  more  ! 

"  Never  again  from  that  stream-silvered  hill-side, 
Swjking  fresh  grass  betwixt  harebell  and  heather. 
Shall  you  and  your  lambkins  look  back  on  Loch  Corry, 
Watching  the  flight  of  the  sea-bird  together. 

"  No  more,  when  the  storm,  striking  chords  on  the  mountains, 
Drives  down  the  thick  mists  their  tall  summits  to  hide, 
Shall  you  give  the  sweet  gift  of  a  mother's  protection 
To  the  soft  little  creatures  crouched  down  by  your  siile. 


16  AN   EARLY   VICTORIAN    CHILD  [oh.  i 

"  Past  the  sweet  peril  !    and  gone  the  sweet  pleasure  ! — 
Well  might  the  echoes  tell  sadly  that  day 
The  plaint  of  the  mothers  that  cried  at  Kingairloch 
The  day  that  the  lambs  were  taken  away." 

Visits  to  Scotland  included  sojourns  at  Ardgowan,  the 
home  of  our  uncle  and  aunt  Sir  Michael  and  Lady 
Octavia  Shaw-Stewart  on  the  Clyde.  Aunt  Occy,  as 
we  called  her,  was  probably  my  mother's  favourite 
sister — in  any  case  her  children  were  our  favourite 
cousins  on  the  Grosvenor  side,  and  we  loved  our  many 
visits  to  Ardgowan  both  when  we  went  to  the  moors 
and  in  after  years.  There  were  excursions  on  the  hills 
and  bathing  in  the  salt-water  of  the  Clyde,  fishing  from 
boats,  and  shells  to  be  collected  on  the  beach.  Also 
my  uncle  had  a  beautiful  yacht  in  which  he  took  us 
expeditions  towards  Arran  and  to  Loch  Long  from 
which  we  were  able  to  go  across  the  mountain  pass  to 
Loch  Lomond. 

My  grandmother  Lady  Leigh  died  in  1860,  before 
which  time  she  used  to  pay  lengthened  visits  to  Stone- 
leigh  accompanied  by  three  or  four  unmarried  daughters. 
She  was  a  fine  handsome  old  lady.  Her  hair  had  turned 
white  when  she  was  about  thirty-two,  but,  as  old  ladies 
did  in  those  days,  she  wore  a  brown  front  with  a  black 
velvet  band.  She  had  a  masterful  temper  and  held  her 
daughters  in  considerable  awe,  but,  after  the  manner 
of  grandparents,  was  very  kind  to  us.  I  fancy  that  so 
many  unmarried  sisters-in-law  may  have  been  a  slight 
trial  to  my  mother,  but  we  regarded  our  aunts  as  addi- 
tional playfellows  bound  to  provide  us  with  some  kind 
of  amusement.  The  favourite  was  certainly  "  Aunt 
Georgy,"  the  youngest  daughter  but  one.  She  had  an 
unfailing  flow  of  spirits,  could  tell  stories  and  join  in 
games,  and  never  objected  to  our  invasion  of  her  room 


LIFE  AT  STOXELEIGH  17 

at  any  time.  Poor  "  Aunt  Gussie  "  (Augusta)  was  less 
fortunate  :  she  had  bad  health  and  would  scold  us  to 
make  us  affectionate — an  unsuccessful  method  to  say 
the  least  of  it — the  natural  result  was,  I  fear,  that  we 
teased  her  whenever  opportunity  offered.  Aunt  Georgie 
was  very  good-looking  and  I  believe  much  admired. 
She  did  not,  however,  marry  till  she  was  about  forty. 
A  Colonel  Xewdigate,  whose  runaway  horse  she  had 
stopped  when  quite  a  girl,  had  fallen  in  love  with  her 
and  wanted  to  marry  her.  She  persistently  refused 
and  he  married  someone  else.  When  his  wife  died,  he 
returned  to  his  first  affection  and  ultimately  melted  my 
Aunt's  heart.  She  had  no  children  of  her  own,  but  was 
a  good  stepmother  to  his  only  son — now  Sir  Frank 
Newdegate,  Governor  of  West  Australia. 

Stoneleigh  oflered  every  possible  amusement  to  chil- 
dren— long  galleries  and  passages  to  race  up  and  down, 
a  large  hall  for  battledore  and  shuttlecock  and  other 
games,  parks  and  lawns  for  ri'ding  and  cricket,  and  the 
River  Avon  at  the  bottom  of  the  garden  for  fishing  and 
boating,  not  to  mention  skating  in  hard  winters.  People 
are  apt  to  talk  and  write  as  if  "  Early  Victorian  "  and 
"  Mid- Victorian  "  children  were  kept  under  strict  con- 
trol and  made  to  treat  their  elders  with  respectful  awe. 
I  cannot  recall  any  undue  restraint  in  our  case.  As  I 
have  already  said,  our  mother  was  an  influence  which 
no  one  would  have  attempted  to  resist,  but  she  never 
interfered  with  any  reasonable  happiness  or  amuse- 
ment. Our  father  was  the  most  cheerful  of  companions, 
loving  to  take  us  about  to  any  kind  of  sights  or  enter- 
tainments which  offered,  and  buying  us  toys  and  presents 
on  every  possible  occasion.  'Die  only  constraint  put 
upon  us,  which  is  not  often  used  with  the  modern  child, 
concerned  religious  observance.     We  had  to  come  in 


18  AN    EARLY    VICTORIAN    CHILD  [ch.  i 

to  daily  Prayers  at  10  o'clock  even  if  it  interfered 
with  working  in  our  gardens  or  other  out-door  amuse- 
ment— and  church  twice  on  Sundays  was  the  invariable 
rule  as  soon  as  we  were  old  enough  to  walk  to  the 
neighbouring  villages  of  Stoneleigh  and  Ashow,  or  to 
attend  the  ministrations  of  the  chaplain  who  generally 
officiated  once  each  Sunday  in  the  chapel  in  the  house. 
We  had  to  learn  some  "  Scripture  lesson  "  every  day 
and  two  or  three  on  Sundays,  and  I  being  the  eldest 
had  not  only  to  repeat  these  Sunday  lessons  to  my 
mother,  but  also  to  see  in  a  general  way  that  my 
younger  brothers  and  sisters  knew  theirs.  I  was  made 
to  learn  any  number  of  chapters  and  hymns,  and 
Scripture  catechisms — not  to  speak  of  the  Thirty-nine 
Articles !  At  last  when  mother  and  governess  failed 
to  find  something  more  to  learn  by  heart  1  was  told  to 
commit  portions  of  Thomas  a  Kempis  to  memory. 
Here,  I  grieve  to  confess,  I  struck — that  is  to  say,  I  did 
not  venture  actually  to  refuse,  but  I  repeated  the  good 
brother's  words  in  such  a  disagreeable  and  discontented 
tone  of  voice  that  no  one  could  stand  it,  and  the  attempt 
to  improve  me  in  this  way  was  tacitly  abandoned. 

On  the  whole  I  feel  sure  that  the  advantages 
of  acquiring  so  many  great  truths,  and  generally  in 
beautiful  language,  far  outweighed  any  passing  irri- 
tation that  a  young  girl  may  have  felt  with  these 
"  religious  obligations."  If  it  is  necessary  to  distinguish 
between  High  and  Low  Church  in  these  matters,  I 
suppose  that  my  parents  belonged  to  the  orthodox 
Evangelical  School.  I  have  a  vague  recollection  of  one 
Vicar  of  Stoneleigh  still  preaching  in  the  black  silk 
Geneva  gown.  At  Ashow — the  other  church  whose 
services  we  attended — the  Rector  when  I  was  small 
was  an  old  Charles  Twisleton,  a  cousin  of  my  father's. 


RECTORS   AND   VICARS  19 

He,  however,  had  discarded  the  black  gown  long  before 
my  day.  My  father  told  me  that  when  the  new  Oxford 
School  first  took  to  preaching  in  surplices  Mr,  Twisle- 
ton  adopted  this  fashion.  Thereupon  the  astonished 
family  at  the  Abbey  exclaimed,  "Oh,  Cousin  Charles, 
are  you  a  Puseyite  ?  "  "  No,  my  dears,"  was  the 
confidential  reply,  "  but  black  silk  gowns  are  very 
expensive  and  mine  was  worn  out."  Probably  many 
poor  clergymen  were  glad  to  avail  themselves  of  this 
economical  form  of  ritual.  I  have  an  idea  that  Rud- 
yard  Kipling's  Norman  Baron's  advice  to  his  son 
would  have  appealed  to  my  parents  had  it  been  written 
in  their  day : 

"  Be  polite  but  not  friendly  to  Bishops, 
And  good  to  all  poor  Parish  priests." 

I  feel  that  they  were  "  friendly  to  Bishops  "  when 
they  met,  and  they  were  certainly  good  to  all  the 
Rectors  and  Vicars  of  the  various  villages  which  be- 
longed to  my  father  or  of  which  the  livings  were  in 
his  gift,  but  they  had  no  idea  of  giving  their  consciences 
into  ecclesiastical  keeping.  In  fact  my  grandmother 
Westminster  once  said  to  my  mother,  "  My  dear,  you 
and  I  spend  much  of  our  lives  in  rectifying  the  errors 
of  the  clergy  "  ;  those  excellent  men  often  failing  in 
business  capacity. 

The  church  services  at  both  our  churches  were  simple 
to  a  degree.  At  Stoneloigh  the  organ  was  in  the  gallery 
and  the  hymns  were  sung  by  the  schoolchildren  there. 
The  pulpit  and  reading-desk  were  part  of  what  used 
to  be  called  a  "  three-decker  "  with  a  second  reading- 
desk  for  the  clerk.  This  was  exactly  opposite  our 
large  "  Squire's  Pew  "  across  the  aisle.  There  had 
from  time  iimuemorial  been  a  Village  Harvest  Home 


20  AN    EARLY   VICTORIAN    CHILD         [ch.  i 

witli  secular  rejoicings,  but  at  last  there  came  the  great 
innovation  of  service  with  special  decoration  and 
appropriate  Psalms  and  Lessons  in  church.  I  do  not 
know  the  exact  year,  but  think  that  it  must  have  been 
somewhere  in  the  sixties,  after  my  Uncle  James — my 
father's  youngest  brother — became  Vicar  of  Stoneleigh, 
as  it  must  have  been  his  influence  which  induced  my 
father  to  consent  to  what  he  considered  slightly  ritua- 
listic. 

However,  all  went  well  till  it  came  to  the  Special 
Psalms.  The  choir  had  nothing  to  do  with  leading 
responses — these  pertained  to  the  clerk — old  Job  Jea- 
cock — and  when  the  first  "  special "  was  given  out  he 
utterly  failed  to  find  it.  The  congregation  waited 
while  he  descended  from  his  desk — walked  across  the 
aisle  to  our  pew  and  handed  his  Prayerbook  to  me 
that  I  might  help  him  out  of  his  difficulty  ! 

Decorations  in  the  churches  at  Christmas  were  fully 
approved,  and  of  course  the  house  was  a  bower  of 
holly,  ivy  and  mistletoe — these  were  ancient  customs 
never  omitted  in  our  home.  Christmas  was  a  glorious 
time,  extending  from  the  Villagers'  Dinner  on  S. 
Thomas's  Day  to  the  Ball  on  our  father's  birthday, 
January  17th — a  liberal  allowance.  The  children 
dined  down  on  both  Christmas  Lay  and  New  Year's 
Day,  and  there  was  always  a  Christmas  Tree  one 
evening  laden  with  toys  and  sweetmeats.  Among 
other  Christmas  customs  there  was  the  bullet-pudding 
—a  little  hill  of  flour  with  a  bullet  on  the  top.  Each 
person  in  turn  cut  a  slice  of  the  pudding  with  his  knife, 
and  when  the  bullet  ultimately  fell  into  the  flour  who- 
ever let  it  down  had  to  get  it  out  again  with  his  mouth. 
Snap-dragon  was  also  a  great  institution.  The  raisins 
had  to  be  seized  from  a  dish  of  burning  spirits  of  wine, 


THEATRICALS  21 

presided  over  by  "  Uncle  Jimmy "  (the  clergyman) 
dressed  as  a  ghost  in  a  sheet,  who  had  regularly  on  this 
occasion  to  tlnill  us  with  a  recitation  of  "  Alonzo  the 
Brave  and  Fair  Imogene  " — the  faithless  lady  who  was 
carried  off  from  her  wedding  feast  by  the  ghost  of  her 
lover.  Of  course  her  fate  was  inextricably  mixed  up 
in  our  mmds  with  the  flame  of  the  snap-dragon. 

Twelfth  Night,  with  drawing  for  characters,  was  duly 
honoured — nor  were  private  theatricals  forgotten.  Like 
all  children  we  loved  dressing-up  and  acting.  The  first 
"  regular  "  play  with  family  and  household  for  audience 
in  which  we  performed  was  Bluebeard,  written  in  verse 
by  my  mother,  in  which  I  was  Fatima.  After  that  we 
had  many  performances — sometimes  of  plays  written 
by  her  and  sometimes  by  myself.  I  do  not  think  that 
we  were  budding  Irvings  or  Ellen  Terrys,  but  we 
enjoyed  ourselves  immensely  and  the  audiences  were 
tolerant. 

More  elaborate  theatricals  took  place  at  Hams  Hall, 
the  house  of  Sir  Charles  Adderley  (afterwards  Lord 
Norton),  who  married  my  father's  eldest  sister.  They 
had  a  large  family,  of  whom  five  sons  and  five  daughters 
grew  up.  These  young  people  were  devoted  to  acting 
and  some  of  us  occasionally  went  over  to  assist — at 
least  I  recollect  performing  on  one  occasion — and  we 
often  saw  these  cousins  either  at  Hams  or  at  Stoneleigh, 
the  houses  being  at  no  great  distance  apart.  The 
youngest  son,  afterwards  well  known  as  Father  Adderley, 
was  particularly  fond  of  dressing  up — he  was  a  well- 
known  actor — and  I  am  not  sure  that  he  did  not  carry 
hia  histrionic  tastes  into  the  Church  of  which  he  was 
a  greatly  esteemed  prop.  Another  numerous  family  of 
cousins  were  the  children  of  my  father's  liftli  sister, 
married  to  the  Rev.  Henry  Chohnondeley — a  son  of 
3 


22  AN    EARLY   VICTORIAN    CHILD  [oh.  i 

Lord  Delamere — who  held  the  living  of  my  father's 
other  place — Adlestrop.  Uncle  Cholmondeley  was 
clever  and  devoted  enough  to  teach  all  his  five  sons 
himself  without  sending  them  to  preparatory  schools  ; 
and  between  his  teaching  and  their  abilities,  most,  if 
not  all,  of  them  won  scholarships  to  aid  their  careers  at 
public  schools.  With  their  four  sisters  they  were  a 
noisy  but  amusing  set  of  companions,  and  we  always 
enjoyed  their  visits.  My  father's  youngest  sister  was 
not  old  enough  for  her  children  to  be  our  actual  con- 
temporaries, but  when  she  did  marry — Mr.  Granville 
Leveson-Gower  of  Titsey — she  had  twelve  sons  and  three 
daughters — a  good  record. 

My  mother's  sisters  rivalled  my  father's  in  adding 
to  the  population — one,  Lady  Macclesfield,  having  had 
fifteen  children,  of  whom  twelve  were  alive  to  attend 
her  funeral  when  she  died  at  the  age  of  ninety.  So  I 
reckoned  at  one  time  that  I  had  a  hundred  first  cousins 
alive,  and  generally  found  one  in  whatever  quarter 
of  the  globe  I  chanced  to  visit. 

Speaking  of  theatrical  performances,  I  should  speci- 
ally mention  my  father's  next  brother,  Chandos  Leigh, 
a  well-known  character  at  the  Bar,  as  a  Member  of  the 
Zingari,  and  in  many  other  spheres.  Whenever  oppor- 
tunity served  and  enough  nephews  and  nieces  were 
ready  to  perform  he  wrote  for  us  what  he  called  "  Busi- 
nesses " — variety  entertainments  to  follow  our  little 
plays — in  which  we  appeared  in  any  capacity — clowns, 
fairies,  Shakespeare  or  Sheridan  characters,  or  any- 
thing else  which  occurred  to  him  as  suited  to  our  various 
capacities,  and  for  which  he  wrote  clever  and  amusing 
topical  rhymes. 


CHAPTER  II 

A  VICTORIAN   GIRL 

The  Christmas  festivities  of  1862  had  to  be  suspended, 
as  my  mother's  health  again  obliged  my  father  to  take 
her  to  the  South  of  France.  This  time  I  was  their  sole 
companion,  the  younger  children  remaining  in  England. 
We  travelled  by  easy  stages,  sleeping  at  Folkestone, 
Boulogne,  Paris,  Dijon,  Lyons,  Avignon,  and  Toulon. 
I  kept  a  careful  journal  of  our  travels  on  this  occasion, 
and  note  that  at  Lyons  we  found  one  of  the  chief  silk 
manufactories  employed  in  weaving  a  dress  for  Prin- 
cess Alexandra,  then  engaged  to  the  Prince  of  Wales. 
It  had  a  gold  rose,  shamrock  and  thistle  combined  on 
a  white  ground.  There  also  we  crossed  the  Rhone 
and  saw  in  the  hospital  at  Ville  Neuve,  among  other 
curious  old  paintings,  one  by  King  Rene  d'Anjou.  It 
represented  the  Holy  Family,  and  my  childish  eyes 
carried  away  the  impression  of  a  lovely  infant  patting 
a  soft  woolly  lamb.  So  completely  was  I  fascinated 
that,  being  again  at  Lyons  after  my  marriage,  I  begged 
my  husband  to  drive  out  specially  to  see  the  picture  of 
my  dream.  Alas  !  ten  years  had  changed  my  eyesight, 
and  instead  of  the  ideal  figures,  I  saw  a  hard  stilf 
Madonna  and  Child,  with  a  perfectly  wooden  lamb.  1 
mention  this  because  I  have  often  thought  that  the 
populace  who  were  so  enraptured  with  a  Madonna  like 
Ciinabue's  in  S.  Maria  Novella  at  Florence  saw  as  I  did 
Bomethiug  beyond  what  was  actually  there.     Grand  and 

'2  J 


24  A    VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

stately  it  is,  but  I  think  that  unsophisticated  eyes 
must  have  endowed  it  with  motherly  grace  and  beauty, 
as  I  gave  life  and  softness  to  the  baby  and  the  lamb. 

We  went  on  by  train  from  Toulon  as  far  as  Les  Arcs 
and  then  drove  to  Frejus,  and  next  day  to  Cannes. 
Whether  the  train  then  only  went  as  far  as  Les  Arcs 
or  whether  my  parents  preferred  the  drive  through  the 
beautiful  scenery  I  do  not  know — anyhow  we  seem 
to  have  thoroughly  enjoyed  the  drive.  I  note  that  in 
April  we  returned  from  Cannes  to  Toulon  by  a  new 
railroad.  Cannes  was  a  little  seaside  country  town  in 
those  days,  with  few  hotels  and  villas  such  as  have 
sprung  up  in  the  last  half- century ;  but  even  then  it 
attracted  sufficient  visitors  to  render  hotel  accommo- 
dation a  difficulty,  and  we  had  to  shorten  our  intended 
stay.  We  went  to  pay  our  respects  to  the  ex-Lord 
Chancellor  Brougham,  already  King  of  Cannes.  He 
was  then  eighty-five,  and  I  have  a  vague  recollection 
of  his  being  very  voluble ;  but  I  was  most  occupied 
with  his  great-nephew,  a  brother  of  the  present  Lord 
Brougham,  who  had  a  little  house  of  his  own  in  the 
garden  which  was  enough  to  fascinate  any  child.  From 
Cannes  we  drove  to  Nice,  about  which  I  record  that 
"  the  only  thing  in  Nice  is  the  sea."  We  had  consider- 
able difficulty  in  our  next  stage  from  Nice  to  Mentone, 
as  a  rock  had  in  one  place  fallen  from  the  top  of  a 
mountain  to  the  valley  below  and  filled  up  part  of  the 
road  with  the  debris  of  its  fall.  At  Mentone  we  spent 
over  three  weeks,  occupied  in  walks  with  my  father 
and  drives  with  him  and  my  mother,  or  sometimes  he 
walked  while  I  rode  a  donkey  up  the  mountains.  There 
was  considerable  political  excitement  at  that  time, 
Mentone  having  only  been  ceded  by  Italy  to  France  in 
1861  and  the  natives  being  by  no  means  reconciled  to 


MENTONE  26 

French  rule.  There  was  a  great  local  feeling  for  Gari- 
baldi, and  though  the  "  Inno  Garibaldi  "  was  forbidden 
I  fear  that  my  mother  occasionally  played  it  in  the 
hotel,  and  any  listener  (such  as  the  waiter)  who  over- 
heard it  beamed  accordingly.  I  happened  to  have  a 
scarlet  flannel  jacket  for  outdoor  wear,  and  remember 
women  in  the  fields  shouting  out  to  me  "  Petite  Gari- 
baldi." 

My  mother  often  sat  on  the  beach  or  among  olive 
trees  to  draw  while  I  read,  or  looked  at  the  sea,  or  made 
up  stories  or  poems,  or  invented  imaginary  kingdoms 
to  be  shared  with  my  sister  and  brothers  on  my  return 
— I  fear  always  reserving  supreme  dominion  for  my 
own  share. 

When  we  left  England  the  idea  had  been  to  continue 
our  travels  as  far  as  Rome,  but  my  mother's  health 
forbade,  as  the  doctor  said  that  the  cold — particularly 
of  the  Galleries — would  be  too  much  for  her.  It  was 
a  great  disappomtment,  above  all  to  her,  but  she  was 
very  good  in  submitting.  As  so  long  a  tranquil  sojourn 
anywhere  had  not  been  contemplated,  our  library  was 
rather  restricted,  but  two  little  volumes  which  she 
had  brought,  one  of  Dryden,  and  Milton's  "Paradise 
Regained,"  afforded  me  happy  hours.  Also  I  perpe- 
trated an  Epic  in  six  Cantos  on  the  subject  of  Rienzi ! 
From  Mentone  we  went  to  San  Remo  for  a  week, 
returning  to  Mentone  February  17th,  when  prepara- 
tions began  for  a  Fet-e  to  be  given  by  the  English  and 
Danish  to  the  inliabitants  of  the  town  on  the  occasion 
of  the  Prince  of  Wales's  marriage.  Old  Lord  Glenelg 
was,  I  believe,  nominal  President,  but  my  father  was 
the  moving  spirit — entertaining  the  populace  being  for 
him  a  thoroughly  congenial  task. 

Many    years    afterwards    in    Samoa    Robert    Louis 


26  A    VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

Stevenson  told  me  tliat  he  was  at  Mentone  with  his 
father  at  the  time  of  the  festivities,  but  he  was  a  yomig 
boy,  and  neither  he  nor  I  knew  under  what  circum- 
stances we  were  ultimately  to  make  acquaintance. 
There  were  all  sorts  of  complications  to  be  overcome — 
for  one  thing  it  was  Lent  and  my  father  had  to  obtain 
a  dispensation  from  M.  le  Cure  for  his  flock  to  eat  meat 
at  the  festal  dinner.  This  was  accorded  on  condition 
that  fish  was  not  also  consumed.  Then  there  appeared 
great  questions  as  to  who  would  consent  to  sit  down 
with  whom.  We  were  told  that  orange-pickers  would 
not  sit  down  with  orange- carriers.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
I  believe  that  it  was  against  etiquette  for  women  to 
sit  down  with  the  men,  and  that  in  the  end  300  work- 
men sat  down  in  the  garden  of  the  Hotel  Victoria 
(where  we  were  staying)  and  I  can  still  recollect  seeing 
the  women  standing  laughing  behind  them  while  the 
men  handed  them  portions  of  food.  Posts  were  gar- 
landed with  heath  and  scarlet  geraniums,  and  decorated 
with  English,  French,  and  Danish  flags  and  portraits 
of  Queen  Victoria  and  the  Prince  and  Princess  of 
Wales.  The  festivities  included  a  boat-race  and  other 
races,  and  ended  with  illuminations  and  fireworks  at 
night.  All  went  off  splendidly,  though  the  wind  rather 
interfered  with  lighting  the  little  lamps  which  decorated 
some  of  the  buildings. 

In  connection  with  the  Prince's  wedding  I  heard  one 
story  which  I  believe  was  told  by  my  aunt  Macclesfield 
■ — (appointed  Lady-in- Waiting  to  the  Princess)  to  my 
mother,  which  as  far  as  I  know  has  never  appeared  in 
print. 

The  present  ex-Kaiser,  then  little  Prince  William 
aged  four,  came  over  with  his  parents  for  the  wedding. 
He  appeared  at  the  ceremony  in  a  Scottish  suit,  where- 


GENOA  27 

upon  the  German  ladies  remonstrated  with  his  mother, 
sanng  that  they  understood  that  he  was  to  have  worn 
the  miiform  of  a  Prussian  officer.  "  I  am  very  sorry/' 
said  his  mother  ;  "he  had  it  on,  but  Beatrice  and 
Leopold "  (the  Duke  of  Albany)  "  thought  that  he 
looked  so  ridiculous  with  tails  that  they  cut  them  off, 
and  we  had  to  find  an  old  Scottish  suit  of  his  uncle's 
for  him  to  wear !  "  An  early  English  protest  against 
militarism  ! 

Two  days  after  the  excitement  of  these  royal  fes- 
tivities we  again  left  Mentone  by  road  for  Genoa,  which 
we  reached  March  16th,  having  stopped  on  the  way 
at  San  Remo,  Alassio,  and  Savona.  At  Genoa  we 
joined  my  mother's  sister  Agnes  and  her  husband,  Sir 
Archibald  Campbell  (of  Garscube),  and  saw  various 
sights  in  their  company. 

I  knew  very  little  of  my  Uncle  Archibald,  as  he  died 
comparatively  young.  At  Genoa  he  was  certainly  very 
lively,  and  I  fear  that  I  contrived  unintentionally  but 
naturally  to  annoy  him — it  only  shows  how  Italian 
politics  excited  everyone,  even  a  child.  He  had  seen 
some  map  in  which  the  Italians  had  marked  as  their 
own  territory,  not  only  what  they  had  lately  acquired, 
but  all  to  which  they  then  aspired  ;  I  hardly  imagine 
the  Trentino,  but  certainly  Venice.  Uncle  Arcliy 
scoffed  at  their  folly — with  precocious  audacity,  and  I 
suppose  having  heard  such  Italian  views  at  Mentone, 
I  asserted  that  they  would  ere  long  have  both  Venice 
and  Rome  !  He  was  quite  indignant.  It  was  imperti- 
nent of  me,  as  I  knew  nothing  of  their  power  or  other- 
wise, but  it  was  a  good  shot ! 

1  have  heard  that  Sir  Archibald's  mother  was  a 
stately  old  Scottish  lady  who  thought  a  great  deal  of 
family,  and  precedence,  and  that  one  day  he  scandalised 


28  A   VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

her  by  asking,   "  Well,  mother,  what  would  be  the 
precedence  of  an  Archangel's  eldest  son  ?  " 

Aunt  Aggy  was  broken-hearted  when  he  died,  and 
always  delicate,  fell  into  very  ill-health.  When  the 
Franco- German  War  broke  out  she  set  to  work  im- 
dauntedly  for  the  sick  and  wounded,  and  positively 
wanted  to  go  abroad  to  nurse  in  some  hospital — prob- 
ably in  Germany.  A  certain  very  clever  Dr.  Frank, 
of  German-Jewish  descent,  was  to  make  arrangements. 
The  whole  Grosvenor  family  and  all  its  married  con- 
nections were  up  in  arms,  and  my  father  was  dispatched 
to  remonstrate  with  her.  With  much  annoyance  and 
reluctance  she  gave  in — and  soon  after  married  Dr. 
Frank !  The  family  were  again  astounded,  but  after 
all  when  they  knew  him  they  realised  that  he  made 
her  happy  and  took  to  him  quite  kindly.  My  aunt 
and  Dr.  Frank  lived  a  great  deal  at  Cannes,  where 
they  had  a  nice  villa — Grandbois — and  many  friends, 
and  he  had  a  tribe  of  admiring  patients.  Aunt  Aggy 
was  very  charming  and  gentle  and  lived  to  a  good  age. 

From  Genoa  we  drove  in  easy  stages  to  Spezia,  noting 
towns  and  villages  on  the  way.  It  was  a  delightful 
means  of  travelling,  walking  up  the  hills  and  stopping 
at  little  townships  for  luncheon  in  primitive  inns. 
Motors  have  somewhat  revived  this  method  of  travel, 
but  whirling  along  at  a  great  pace  can  never  allow  you 
to  see  and  enjoy  all  the  lesser  beauties  which  struck  you 
in  the  old  leisurely  days.  I  have  duly  noted  all  sorts 
of  trivial  incidents  in  my  journal,  but  they  are  much 
what  occur  in  all  such  expeditions  and  I  need  not 
dilate  on  the  beauties  of  mountain,  sea,  and  sky  which 
everyone  knows  so  well.  At  Spezia  we  saw  the  scene 
of  Shelley's  shipwreck,  and  on  one  coast  of  the  Gulf 
the  prison  where  Garibaldi  had  been  interned  not  very 


TRAFALGAR  VETERANS  29 

long  before.  I  record  that  it  was  a  large  building,  and 
that  his  rooms,  shown  us  by  a  sailor,  were  "  very  nice/' 
I  trust  that  he  found  them  so.  After  returning  to  our 
old  quarters  we  left  Mentone  on  April  15th,  evidently 
with  great  regret  and  with  a  parting  sigh  to  the 
voiturier  who  had  driven  us  on  all  our  expeditions, 
including  those  to  Genoa  and  Spezia — also  to  my 
donkey-man  and  to  the  chambermaid.  Looking  back, 
I  feel  that  these  southern  weeks  were  among  the  happiest 
of  my  life,  and  that  something  of  the  sunlight  and 
mountain  scenery  remained  as  memories  never  effaced. 

We  returned  to  England  by  much  the  same  route 
as  our  outward  journey,  only  the  railroad  being  now 
open  from  Cannes  to  Toulon  a  night  at  Frejus  was 
unnecessary.  I  cannot  remember  whether  it  was  on 
our  outward  or  our  homeward  journey,  but  on  one  or 
the  other  we  met  at  the  Palace  of  the  Popes  at  Avignon 
an  old  custodian  who  had  fought  at  Trafalgar  and 
been  for  some  years  prisoner  in  England.  He  showed 
with  some  pride  an  English  book,  and  it  amused  my 
mother  to  recognise  a  translation  from  a  German  work 
of  which  she  did  not  hold  a  high  opinion.  I  do  not 
suppose  that  the  French  soldier  read  enough  of  it  to 
do  him  much  harm. 

It  is  rather  curious  that  my  father  on  two  or  three 
occasions  took  us  to  see  at  Greenwich  Hospital  an  old 
servant  of  Nelson's  who  was  with  him  at  Trafalgar, 
80  I  have  seen  both  a  Frenchman  and  an  Englishman 
who  took  part  in  that  battle.  Nelson's  servant  had  a 
little  room  hung  all  round  witli  pictures  of  tlie  hero.  My 
father  asked  liiiu  wlidlier  the  Admiral  said  tlie  prayer 
which  one  print  represents  liiin  us  reciting  on  his  knees 
before  the  battle.  The  man  said  he  did  not  know  what 
words  he  used,  but  he  saw  him  kneel  down  1o  pray. 


30  A   VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

On  our  way  to  Paris  we  spent  a  night  at  Fontainebleau 
— and  finally  reached  Stoneleigh  on  May  1st,  1863. 

Speaking  of  my  mother's  numerous  brothers  and 
sisters,  I  ought  not  to  omit  the  eldest,  Eleanor,  Duchess 
of  Northumberland,  who  was  a  very  great  lady,  hand- 
some and  dignified  till  her  death  at  an  advanced  age. 
She  had  no  children,  but  was  admired  and  respected 
by  many  nephews  and  nieces.  I  believe  that  her  country 
neighbours  regarded  her  as  almost  royal,  curtsying 
when  she  greeted  them.  I  remember  her  telling  me 
that  she  could  not  go  and  hear  some  famous  preacher 
in  London  because  she  would  not  have  her  carriage 
out  on  Sunday  and  had  never  been  in  any  sort  of  cab. 
What  would  she  have  thought  of  the  modern  fashion 
of  going  in  omnibuses  ?  However,  a  year  or  two  before 
her  death  the  late  Duke  of  Northumberland  (grandson 
of  her  husband's  cousin  and  successor)  told  me  with 
great  glee  that  they  had  succeeded  in  getting  Duchess 
Eleanor  into  a  taxi  and  that  she  had  enjoyed  it  very 
much.  I  cannot  think  how  they  managed  it.  She 
lived  during  her  widowhood  at  Stanwick  Park,  and  my 
youngest  sister  Cordelia  had  a  rather  comical  experi- 
ence when  staying  with  her  there  on  one  occasion. 
My  aunt,  among  other  tabooed  innovations,  altogether 
objected  to  motors  and  would  not  allow  any  through 
her  Lodge  gates.  Previous  to  her  visit  to  Stanwick, 
Cordelia  had  stayed  with  the  Lawsons  at  Brayton  in 
Cumberland  and  while  there  had  been  stopped  by  a 
policeman  for  riding  a  tricycle  after  dark  without  a  light. 
She  left  her  address  with  the  Lawson  family,  and  while 
at  Stanwick  the  local  policeman  appeared,  absolutely 
trembling  at  having  been  forced  to  enter  these  sacred 
precincts,  to  summon  her  in  that  she  "  drove  a  carriage, 
to   wit   a   tricycle,    between    the    hours,    etc."      The 


LORD  IMITNCASTER  AND   GREEK  BRIGANDS     31 

household  managed  to  keep  it  dark  from  Aunt  Eleanor, 
and  Cordelia  sent  authority  to  the  Lawson  family  to 
settle  the  case  and  pay  the  fine — but  what  would  the 
amit  have  said  had  she  known  of  her  niece's  crime  and 
penalty  ? 

Lady  Macclesfield,  the  second  daughter,  I  have  already 
mentioned.  The  surviving  sister  (one  having  died  young) 
next  above  my  mother  in  age  was  Elizabeth  Lady  Wen- 
lock,  who  was  veTj  clever  and,  among  her  nine  children, 
had  charming  daughters  to  whom  I  may  refer  later  on. 
Then  after  my  mother  came  Octavia  and  Agnes — and 
then  Jane,  married  to  Lord  Muncaster,  who  died  seven 
years  later  at  Castellamare,  leaving  her  with  one  little 
girl  of  about  two  years  old.  Margaret  or  Mimi,  as  we 
called  her,  was  a  great  interest  when  the  young  widowed 
mother  brought  her  to  stay  with  us,  soon  after  her 
father's  death.  She  was  a  dear  little  girl,  and  we  were 
told  that  she  was  a  great  heiress,  and  somehow  in  the 
hands  of  the  Lord  Chancellor.  Her  father  had  died 
without  a  will,  and  all  the  property,  including  the 
beautiful  Muncaster  Castle  in  Cumberland,  went  to  the 
child  though  her  uncle  succeeded  to  the  title.  How- 
ever, poor  little  Mimi  died  when  she  was  eleven  years 
old,  80  her  uncle  succeeded  to  the  property  after  all. 
He  was  the  Lord  Muncaster  who  was  captured  by  the 
brigands  near  Marathon  in  1870  with  his  wife  and  hor 
si.ster.  Miss  L'Estrange,  Mr.  Vyner,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Lloyd, 
and  two  other  men.  The  brigands  let  the  ladies  go  with- 
out injury — Lady  Muncaster  had  hidden  her  rings  in  her 
mouth  to  protect  them — ])ut  they  would  only  let  one 
man  go  to  get  ransom  for  the  rest.  The  men  drew  lots 
and  it  fell  to  Vyner,  })ut  he  absolutely  refused  to  take 
the  chance,  saying  that  he  was  a  bachelor  and  Lord 
Muncaster  a  married  man.     Instead  of  ransom  the  Greek 


32  A   VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

Government  sent  troops.  The  brigands  were  annihilated, 
but  they  first  killed  Vyner  and  his  companions.  It 
was  said  that  the  Government  stood  in  with  the  brigands, 
but  I  have  never  quite  understood  why,  if  so,  the 
former  did  not  prefer  the  money  to  the  death  of  their 
allies — unless  they  thought  that  they  would  have  to 
produce  the  ransom.  Lord  Muncaster  always  had  his 
head  hanging  a  little  to  one  side,  and  in  my  youth  I 
had  a  floating  idea  that  it  was  from  permanent  grief 
at  the  tragedy.  Meantime  my  Aunt  Jane  married  a 
second  time,  a  brother  of  Lord  Crawford's.  She  was 
pretty,  with  green  eyes  and  a  nervous  manner.  She 
was  a  beautiful  needlewoman  and  I  beUeve  a  true 
musician. 

One  more  Grosvenor  aunt  must  be  remembered,  my 
mother's  youngest  sister  Theodora.  I  have  heard  that 
my  grandmother  was  greatly  distressed  at  the  loss  of 
her  fourth  daughter,  Evelyn,  who  died  as  a  child, 
although  there  were  seven  surviving  sisters,  therefore 
when  another  girl-baby  arrived  she  called  her  Theodora 
■ — the  gift  of  God.  Certainly  she  was  greatly  attached 
to  the  child,  and  I  fancy  that  the  little  Theodora  was 
given  much  more  spoiling  and  freedom  than  her  elder 
sisters.  She  was  very  lively  and  amusing,  and  being 
the  only  daughter  left  unmarried  when  my  grand- 
father died — in  1869 — she  became  her  mother's  con- 
stant companion.  When  she  ultimately  married  a 
brother  of  Lord  Wimborne's  she  and  Mr,  Merthyr 
Guest  continued  to  live  with  my  grandmother,  who 
endowed  them  with  a  large  fortune.  Mr.  Guest  died 
some  years  ago,  but  Aunt  Theodora  still  lives — and 
has  one  daughter. 

My  grandfather  was  a  quiet  old  gentleman  as  far  as 
I  recollect  him — he  is  somehow  associated  in  my  mind 


THE   GR08VEN0R   FAMILY  33 

with  carpet  slippers  and  a  diffident  manner.  He  was 
what  they  call  of  a  "  saving  "  disposition,  but  I  really 
believe  that  he  was  oppressed  with  his  great  wealth, 
and  never  sure  that  he  was  justified  in  spending  much 
on  himself  and  his  family.  When  he  became  a  thor- 
ough invalid  before  his  death  he  was  ordered  to  take 
certain  pills,  and  in  order  to  induce  him  to  do  so  my 
grandmother  would  cut  them  in  two  and  take  half 
herself.  After  his  death  his  halves  were  discovered 
intact  done  up  with  red  tape  ! 

During  his  lifetime  I  stayed  with  my  parents  once 
or  twice  at  the  old  Eaton  Hall,  before  my  uncle  (the 
first  Duke)  built  the  present  Palace.  It  was  a  nice, 
comfortable  house.  I  have  heard,  from  a  neighbour 
who  recollected  the  incident,  that  when  it  was  being 
built  the  workmen  employed  would  chisel  rough  repre- 
sentations of  each  other's  features  in  the  gargoyles 
which  formed  part  of  the  decoration.  I  suppose  that 
was  done  in  ancient  times  by  the  men  who  built  the 
churches  and  colleges  of  those  days. 

My  grandparents  besides  these  numerous  daughters 
had  four  sons — two,  both  named  Gilbert,  died,  one  as 
a  baby,  the  other,  a  sailor,  as  a  young  man.  The  late 
Duke  was  my  godfather  and  always  very  kind  to  me, 
particularly  when,  after  my  marriage,  I  stayed  on  more 
than  one  occasion  at  the  new  Eaton.  I  never  knew 
a  man  more  anxious  to  do  all  he  could  for  the  people 
about  him,  whether  in  the  country  or  on  his  London 
property.  He  had  very  much  the  feeling  of  a  patriarch 
and  loved  nothing  better  than  to  have  about  him  the 
generations  of  his  family.  It  was  a  complicated  family, 
as  he  married  first  his  own  first  cousin,  Constance 
Leveson-Gower,  and  after  her  death  the  sister  of  his 
son-in-law    Lord    Chesham,    husband    of    his    second 


34  A   VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

daughter  Beatrice.  I  cannot  quite  unravel  it,  but 
somehow  he  was  brother-in-law  to  his  own  daughter. 
The  youngest  son,  Richard,  a  quaint,  amusing  man, 
was  created  Lord  Stalbridge. 

Having  said  so  much  of  my  mother's  family,  I  think 
I  should  mention  the  two  sisters  of  my  father  whom  I 
have   hitherto   omitted.     One   was   his   second   sister, 
Emma — a  typical  and  excellent  maiden  aunt.     She  was 
principally  noted  for  being  my  sister  Agnes's  godmother 
and  feeling  it  her  duty  to  hear  her  Catechism — but 
neither  Agnes  nor  any  of  us  minded  ;  in  fact  I  remember 
— I  suppose  on  some  wet  Sunday — that  we  all  insisted 
on  sharing  the  Scripture  lesson  and  were  given  figs  in 
consequence.     The  third  sister  was  Caroline,  twin  with 
Augusta,  but  very  different,  for  whereas  Aunt  Gussie 
was  delicate  and  nervous,  not  to  say  irritable.  Aunt 
Car  was  slow  and  substantial.     She  ended  with  marry- 
ing when  no  longer  very  young  an  old  cousin  of  my 
father's,  a  clergyman.  Lord  Saye  and  Sele,  who  had 
actually  baptized  her  early  in  life.     She  made  him  an 
excellent  wife  ;  she  had  numerous  step- children,  though 
none  of  her  own.    Looking  back  on  these  Early  Vic- 
torian uncles  and  aunts  with  their  various  wives  and 
husbands,  I  cannot  but  claim  that  they  were  good 
English  men  and  women,  with  a  keen  sense  of  duty  to 
their  tenants  and  neighbours  rich  and  poor.     Of  course 
they   varied   immensely   in   character   and   had   their 
faults  like  other  people,  but  I  cannot  recall  one,  either 
man  or  woman,  who  did  not  try  to  act  up  to  a  standard 
of  right,  and  think  I  was  fortunate  to  have  been  brought 
up  among  them. 

In  my  younger  days  I  had  also  living  several  great- 
uncles  and  aunts  on  both  sides,  but  the  only  one  whom 
I  can  spare  time  and  space  to  mention  here  is  my 


UNCLES  AND   AUNTS  35 

Grandfather  Leigh's  sister,  Caroline  Lady  East.  When 
she  was  vounsj  Mr.  East  fell  in  love  with  her  and  she 

■J  o 

with  him,  but  he  was  an  impecunious  youth  and  my 
great-grandparents  would  not  permit  the  marriage. 
Whereupon  he  disguised  himself  as  a  hay-maker  and 
contrived  an  interview  with  his  lady-love  in  which  they 
exchanged  vows  of  fidelity.  Then  he  went  to  India, 
where  he  remained  eleven  years,  and  returned  to  find 
the  lady  still  faithful,  and  having  accumulated  a  suffi- 
cient fortune  married  her.  They  had  a  nice  little  country 
house  on  the  borders  of  Oxfordshire  and  Gloucester- 
shire, and,  though  they  had  no  children,  were  one  of 
the  happiest  old  couples  I  ever  knew.  My  great-aunt 
died  in  1870,  but  Uncle  East  lived  till  over  ninety  and 
went  out  hunting  almost  to  the  end — so  eleven  years 
of  Lidia  had  not  done  him  much  harm.  He  stayed 
with  us  at  Middleton  after  my  marriage  when  old 
Lord  Abingdon  was  also  a  guest.  Lord  Abingdon 
must  have  been  over  seventy  at  the  time,  but  a  good 
deal  younger  than  Sir  James.  They  had  know^n  each 
other  in  youth  and  were  quite  delighted  to  meet  again, 
but  each  confided  separately  to  my  husband  and  myself 
that  he  had  thought  that  the  other  old  fellow  was  dead. 
However,  they  made  great  friends,  and  in  token  of 
reunion  Lord  Abingdon  sent  his  servant  to  cut  Uncle 
East's  corns ! 

To  return  to  my  recollections  of  my  own  girlhood. 
I  think  that  it  must  have  been  in  1864  that  I  had  a  bad 
attack  of  chicken-pox  which  temporarily  hurt  my  eyes 
and  left  me  somewhat  weak.  Either  in  that  autumn 
or  the  following  one  my  parents  took  me  to  the  Isle 
of  Arran  and  left  me  there  for  a  time  with  a  maid — 
wliile  they  accompanied  my  brother  Gilbert  back  to 
Hcliool.     1  loved  the  Isle  of  Arran,  and  was  only  dis- 


36  A    VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

turbed  by  the  devotion  of  a  child-niece  of  the  land- 
lady's who  would  follow  me  about  everywhere.  The 
only  way  of  escape  was  to  go — or  attempt  to  go — into 
the  mountains  of  which  she  was  afraid,  knowing  that 
there  were  giants  there, 

I  must  not  omit  one  honour  which  I  enjoyed  in  1865. 
My  mother  took  me  to  see  my  Aunt  Macclesfield,  who 
was  in  Waiting  at  Marlborough  House  when  His  present 
Majesty  was  born.  My  aunt  welcomed  us  in  the  Princess 
of  Wales's  pretty  sitting-room  hung  with  a  kind  of 
brocade  with  a  pattern  of  roses.  The  baby  was  then 
brought  in  to  be  admired,  and  to  my  gratification  I  was 
allowed  to  hold  the  little  Prince  in  my  arms.  I  did 
not  then  realise  that  in  after  years  I  could  claim  to 
have  nursed  my  King. 

Shortly  afterwards  we  used  to  hear  a  good  deal  of  the 
American  Civil  War.  We  were  too  young  to  have  much 
opinion  as  to  the  rival  causes,  but  there  was  a  general 
impression  conveyed  to  our  minds  that  the  "  Southern- 
ers were  gentlemen."  Some  time  after  the  war  was 
over,  in  December  1868,  Jefferson  Davis,  the  Southern 
(Confederate)  President,  came  to  stay  at  Stoneleigh. 
He  was  over  in  Europe  on  parole.  We  were  told  that 
he  had  been  in  prison,  and  one  of  my  younger  brothers 
was  anxious  to  know  whether  we  "  should  see  the  marks 
of  the  chains."  We  had  a  favourite  old  housemaid 
who  was  preparing  his  room,  and  we  imparted  to  her  the 
thrilling  information  of  his  former  imprisonment.  Her 
only  response  was  "  Umph,  well,  I  suppose  he  won't 
want  these  silver  candlesticks."  A  large  bedroom  was 
being  prepared  for  him,  but  she  considered  that  silver 
candlesticks  were  only  for  ladies,  and  that  presidents 
and  prisoners  were  not  entitled  to  such  luxuries. 

He    proved    to    be    a    benevolent    old    gentleman 


CONFIRI^IATION  37 

who  impressed  my  cousins  and  myself  by  the 
paternal  way  in  which  he  addressed  any  elder  girl  as 
"  daughter," 

After  this — but  I  camiot  remember  the  particular 
years — we  went  in  the  autunm  to  l^and's  End,  The 
Lizard,  and  Tintagel,  and  also  had  villas  at  Torquay  and 
Bournemouth  respectively,  but  our  experiences  were  too 
ordinary  to  be  worthy  of  record.  I  think  I  was  about 
seventeen  when  I  went  with  my  parents  to  Vichy,  where 
my  father  drank  the  waters — and  we  went  on  to  some 
beautiful  Auvergne  country.  This  was  my  last  excursion 
abroad  with  my  parents  before  1  married. 

In  1867  I  was  confirmed.  The  church  which  we 
attended  was  in  Park  Street.  It  has  since  been  pulled 
down,  but  was  then  regarded  as  specially  the  church 
of  the  Westminster  family.  ]My  grandparents  sat  in  a 
large  pew  occupying  the  length  of  the  gallery  at  the 
west  end  of  the  church.  We  had  a  pew  in  the  south 
gallery  with  very  high  sides,  and  my  early  recollections 
are  of  sitting  on  a  dusty  red  hassock  from  which  I  could 
see  little  but  the  woodwork  during  a  very  long  sermon. 
One  Sunday  when  I  was  approaching  years  of  discretion 
the  clergyman  gave  out  notice  of  a  Confirmation,  with 
the  usual  intimation  that  Candidates  should  give  in 
tlieir  names  in  the  Vestry.  My  mother  told  me  to 
do  this  accompanied  by  my  younger  brother  (Gilbert) 
as  chaperon.  The  clergyman  seemed  a  good  deal 
surprised,  and  I  rather  fancy  tliat  1  was  the  only 
Candidate.  He  was  an  old  nuin  who  had  been  there 
for  a  long  time.  He  said  that  he  would  come  and 
see  me  at  my  parents'  house,  and  duly  arrived  at  37 
Portman  Square.  I  was  sent  in  to  my  father's  sitting- 
room  for  the  interview,  and  I  believe  that  he  was  more 
embarrassed  than  I  was,  for  I  had  long  Ijcen  led  to  regard 
4 


38  A    VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

Confirmation  as  the  proper  sequence  to  learning  my 
Catechism  and  a  fitting  step  in  religious  life.  The 
clergyman  somewhat  uneasily  remarked  that  he  had  to 
ascertain  that  I  knew  my  Catechism,  and  asked  me  to 
say  it.  This  I  could  have  done  in  my  sleep,  as  it  had 
for  years  formed  part  of  my  Sunday  instruction.  When 
I  ended  he  asked  after  a  slight  pause  whether  I  knew 
why  the  Nicene  Creed  was  so  called.  This  was  unex- 
pected pleasure.  I  had  lately  read  Milman's  Latin 
Christianity  to  my  mother,  and  should  have  enjoyed 
nothing  better  than  delivering  to  my  pastor  a  short 
lecture  on  the  Arian  and  Athanasian  doctrines.  When 
I  began  it,  however,  he  hastily  cut  me  short,  saying 
that  he  saw  that  I  knew  all  about  it — how  old  was  1  ? 
"  Seventeen  and  a  half.''  "  Quite  old  enough,"'  said  he, 
and  told  me  that  he  would  send  me  my  ticket,  and  when 
I  went  to  the  church  someone  would  show  me  where  to 
sit.  This  ended  my  preparation  as  far  as  he  was  con- 
cerned. I  believe  he  intimated  to  my  parents  that  he 
would  see  Miss  Leigh  again,  but  in  practice  he  took  care 
to  keep  clear  of  the  theological  enfaM  terrible. 

I  was  duly  confirmed  on  May  31st,  by  Dr.  Jackson, 
Bishop  of  London.  I  feel  sure  that  my  mother  amply 
supplied  any  lacuna?  left  by  the  poor  old  clergyman. 
No  doubt  in  those  days  Preparation  for  Confirmation 
was  not  regarded  as  seriously  as  at  present,  but  I  do 
not  think  that  mine  was  quite  typical,  as  some  of  my 
contemporary  cousins  underwent  a  much  more  serious 
course  of  instruction. 

That  autumn  I  began  to  "  come  out  "  in  the  country. 
We  went  to  a  perfectly  delightful  ball  at  the  Shaw- 
Stewarts'  at  Ardgowan,  where  the  late  Duke  of  Argyll — 
then  Lord  Lome — excited  my  admiration  by  the  way 
he   danced   reels   in   Highland   costume.     Thence   my 


"COMING   OUT"  39 

brother  and  I  went  to  Hans  Hall  to  the  coming-of-age 
of  my  cousin  Charles  Adtlerley,  now  Lord  Norton.  The 
whole  country-side  swarmed  to  the  festivities,  and  one 
party  unable  to  obtain  any  other  conveyance  chartered 
a  hearse.  Miss  Ferrier,  in  her  novel  The  Inheritance, 
makes  one  of  her  female  characters  arrive  at  a  country 
house,  where  she  was  determined  to  be  received,  in  a 
hearse — but  she  was  even  more  gruesome  than  my 
cousin's  guests  as  she  accompanied  the  corpse  ! 

The  following  year  (1868),  May  12th,  I  was  presented 
— Princess  Christian  held  the  Drawing-Room  on  behalf 
of  the  Queen,  who  still  lived  in  retirement  as  far  as  social 
functions  were  concerned.  She,  however,  attended 
this  Drawing-Room  for  about  half  an  hour — receiving 
the  entree.  Her  devotion  to  the  Prince  Consort  and  to 
his  memory  was  unparalleled.  No  doubt  the  fact  that 
she  had  practically  never  had  anyone  with  whom  she 
could  associate  on  equal  terms  until  her  marriage  had 
a  good  deal  to  do  with  it.  I  know  of  a  lady  whom  she 
summoned  to  sit  with  her  when  the  Prince  Consort  was 
being  carried  to  his  funeral  on  the  ground  that  she  was 
a  widow  and  could  feel  for  her,  and  she  said  that  her 
shudders  when  the  guns  went  off  were  dreadful,  and 
that  she  seemed  unable  to  realise  that  here  for  the  first 
time  was  something  that  she  could  not  control. 

To  return  to  my  entry  in  the  world.  Naturally  I 
went  during  1868  and  the  three  or  four  succeeding 
years  to  the  balls,  dinners,  and  garden  parties  usual  in 
the  course  of  the  season.  The  "  great  houses  "  then 
existed— they  had  not  been  pulled  down  or  turned  into 
jmblic  galleries  and  oflices.  StalTord  House,  CJrosvenor 
House,  Northumberland  House,  and  others  entertained 
in  royal  style,  and  there  were  Garden  Parties  at  Argyll 
Lodge  and  Airlie  Lodge  on  Campden  Hill,  at  Syon.  and 


40  A    VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

at  Chiswick,  then  in  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Devon- 
shire. 

In  those  days  there  was  still  a  sort  of  question  as  to 
the  propriety  of  waltzing.  Valses  and  square  dances 
were  danced  alternately  at  balls,  and  a  few — but  very 
few — girls  were  limited  to  the  latter.  Chaperones  were 
the  almost  invariable  rule  and  we  went  back  to  them 
between  the  dances.  "  Sitting-out "  did  not  come  in 
till  some  years  later.  In  the  country,  however,  there 
was  plenty  of  freedom,  and  I  never  remember  any 
restriction  on  parties  of  girls  and  young  men  walking  or 
rowing  together  without  their  elders.  By  the  time  I 
came  out  my  brother  Gilbert  (Gilly)  was  at  Harrow  and 
Dudley  and  Rupert  at  Mr.  Lee's  Private  School  at 
Brighton.  My  special  charge  and  pet  Rowland  was 
still  at  home,  and  the  youngest  of  the  family  Cordelia 
a  baby. 

Dudley  and  Rupy  were  inseparable.  Duddy  delicate, 
Rupy  sturdy  and  full  of  mischief  into  which  he  was  apt 
to  drag  his  elder  brother.  I  had  to  look  after  them,  and 
see  that  they  accomplished  a  few  lessons  in  the  holidays — 
— no  light  task,  but  I  was  ready  for  anything  to  keep 
off  holiday  tutors  and,  I  am  afraid,  to  retain  my  position 
as  elder  sister.  Love  of  being  first  was  doubtless  my 
besetting  sin,  and  my  good-natured  younger  brothers 
and  sisters  accepted  my  rule — probably  also  because 
it  was  easier  than  that  of  a  real  grown-up  person.  My 
mother  had  bad  health,  and  my  father  took  it  for 
granted  that  it  was  my  business  to  keep  the  young 
ones  as  far  as  possible  out  of  mischief.  As  for  my  sister 
Agnes,  she  was  always  a  saint,  and  I  am  afraid  that 
I  was  a  tyrant  as  far  as  she  was  concerned.  Cordelia 
was  born  when  I  was  over  sixteen  and  was  always 
rather  like  my  child.     Rowland  was  just  seven  when 


IRELAND  41 

her  arrival  delighted  the  family,  and  his  first  remark 
when  he  heard  that  he  had  a  little  sister  was  "  I  wonder 
what  she  will  think  of  my  knickerbockers  " — to  which 
he  had  lately  been  promoted.  Boys  w^ore  little  tunics 
with  belts  when  they  first  left  off  baby  frocks,  and  sailor 
suits  were  not  introduced  when  my  brothers  were 
children. 

My  next  special  recollection  is  of  a  visit  to  Ireland 
which  I  paid  in  company  with  my  parents,  Gilbert,  and 
Agnes  in  August  1869.  We  crossed  in  the  Leinster  and 
duly  lionised  Dublin.  I  kept  a  journal  during  this 
tour  in  which  the  siglits  of  the  city  are  duly  noted  with 
the  remark,  after  seeing  the  post  office,  that  we  "  made 
the  various  observations  proper  to  intelligent  but  tired 
travellers." 

The  country — Bray,  Glendalough,  and  the  Seven 
Churches  seem  to  have  pleased  us  much  better.  I  do 
not  know  w^hether  the  guides  and  country  people 
generally  are  as  free  with  their  legends  now  as  they  were 
fifty  years  ago,  but  they  told  us  any  amount  of  stories 
to  our  great  satisfaction,  Brough,  the  guide  at  the 
Seven  Churches,  was  particularly  voluble  and  added 
considerably  to  the  tales  of  St.  Kevin  given  in  the 
guide-book.  St.  Kevin,  as  recounted  by  Moore  in  his 
ballad,  pushed  Kathleen  into  tlie  Lake  when  she  would 
follow  him.  I  rememlier  that  Brough  was  much 
embarrassed  when  I  innocently  asked  why  he  did  this. 
However,  he  discreetly  replied  :  "  If  your  honourable 
father  and  your  honourable  motlier  want  you  to  marry 
a  gentleman  and  you  don't  like  him,  don't  push  him  into 
the  water  !  "  Excellent  advice  and  not  diflicult  to 
follow  in  a  general  way.  When  St.  Kevin  was  alive 
the  skylark  used  to  sing  early  in  the  morning  and  waken 
the  people  who  had  been  up  late  the  night  before  at  a 


42  A   VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

wedding  or  merrymaking.  When  the  Saint  saw  them 
looking  so  bad  he  asked,  "  What's  the  matter  ?  " 
On  hearing  that  the  lark  would  not  let  them  get  any 
sleep,  he  laid  a  spell  that  never  more  should  lark  sing 
above  that  lake.  This  encouragement  of  late  hours 
seems  rather  inconsistent  with  his  general  asceticism. 
St.  Kevin  was  more  considerate  to  a  blackbird  than 
to  the  laverock.  The  former  once  laid  her  eggs  on  his 
extended  hand,  and  he  kept  it  held  out  until  she 
had  had  time  to  build  her  nest  in  it  and  hatch  her 
young. 

Brough  was  even  better  acquainted  with  fairies  than 
with  saints.  He  knew  a  man  at  Cork  named  Jack 
M'Ginn,  a  wool- comber,  who  was  carried  away  by  the 
fairies  for  seven  years.  At  the  end  of  that  time  he 
accompanied  them  to  a  wedding  (fairies  like  weddings). 
There  was  present  a  young  lady  whom  the  fairies  wanted 
to  make  sneeze  three  times,  as  if  they  could  do  so  and 
no  one  said  "  God  bless  her  "  they  could  take  her  away. 
So  they  tickled  her  nose  three  times  with  horse-hair, 
but  as  they  were  withdrawing  it  the  third  time  Jack 
cried  out  in  Irish  "  God  bless  her."'  This  broke  the 
spell,  and  Jack  fell  crashing  down  amongst  the  crockery, 
everyone  ran  away,  and  he  arose  retransformed  to  his 
natural  shape. 

Another  acquaintance  of  Brough's — a  stout  farmer — 
met  one  evening  three  fairies  carrying  a  coffin.  Said 
one,  "  What  shall  we  do  for  a  fourth  man  ?  "  "  Switch 
the  first  man  who  passes,"  replied  the  second.  So 
they  caught  the  farmer  and  made  him  carry  it  all  night, 
till  he  found  himself  in  the  morning  nearly  dead  not 
far  from  his  own  door.  Our  guide  enjoined  us  to  be 
sure,  if  fairies  passed  us  in  the  air,  to  pick  some  blades 
of  grass  and  throw  them  after  them,  saying  "  Good  luck 


KILLARNEY  43 

to  you  good  folk  "  :  as  lie  sagely  remarked,  a  civil  word 
never  does  harm.  As  more  prosaic  recollections, 
Brough  told  us  of  the  grand  fights  at  Glendalough, 
when  the  young  men  were  backed  up  by  their  sisters 
and  sweethearts.  The  etiquette  was  for  a  young  woman 
to  take  of?  her  right  stocking,  put  a  stone  in  it  and  use 
it  as  a  weapon,  "  and  any  woman  who  fought  well 
would  have  twenty  young  farmers  wanting  to  marry 
her." 

We  stopped  at  Cork,  whence  we  drove  to  see  Blarney 
Castle  and  its  stones.  In  those  days,  and  probably 
still,  there  were  two,  one  called  the  Ladies'  Stone,  which 
we  three  children  all  kissed,  and  another  suspended  by 
iron  clamps  from  the  top  of  the  Castle,  so  that  one  had 
to  lie  down  and  hold  on  to  the  irons  with  one's  body 
partly  over  an  open  space — rather  a  break-neck  pro- 
ceeding, particularly  in  rising  again.  Only  Gilly  accom- 
plished this.  The  railway  to  GlengarifE  then  went  as 
far  as  Dun  man  way,  whence  it  was  necessary  to  drive. 
We  slept  at  the  Royal  Hotel  where  we  arrived  in  tlie 
evening,  and  to  the  end  of  my  life  I  never  shall  forget 
the  beauty  of  Bantry  Bay  as  we  saw  it  on  waking  next 
morning  with  all  its  islands  mirrored  in  purple  shadows. 
But  the  whole  drive  to  Killarney,  and  above  all  the 
Lakes  as  they  break  upon  your  sight,  are  beyond 
description.  We  saw  it  all  in  absolutely  glorious 
weather — possibly  rare  in  those  regions,  but  certainly 
the  Lakes  of  Killarney  impressed  me  then  as  more 
beautiful  tlum  cither  the  Scottish  or  the  English  Lakes 
l)ecause  of  their  marvellous  richness  of  colour.  After 
fifty  years,  and  travels  in  many  lands,  I  still  imagine 
that  they  are  only  excelled  in  colour  by  the  coral  islands 
of  the  Pacific  ;  but  of  course  the  Irish  Lakes  may  dwell 
in   my   memory   as   more   beautiful    than    they   really 


44  A   VICTORIAN    GIRL  [oh.  ii 

are,  as  I  saw  them  first  when  I  had  far  fewer  standards 
of  comparison.  Anyhow,  they  were  like  a  glorious 
dream.  We  spent  some  enchanting  days  at  Killarney 
and  saw  all  the  surrounding  beauties — the  Gap  of  Dunloe 
with  the  Serpent  Lake  in  which  St.  Patrick  drowned 
the  last  snake  in  Ireland  (in  a  chest  into  which  he 
enticed  the  foolish  creature  by  promising  to  let  it  out 
again),  Mangerton,  the  highest  mountain  in  Ireland 
but  one,  and  Carrantuohill,  the  highest  of  all,  which 
my  brother  and  sister  and  I  were  allowed  to  ascend  on 
condition  that  the  guide  would  take  good  care  of  us. 
However,  when  out  of  our  parents'  sight  he  found  that 
he  was  troubled  with  a  corn,  and  lay  down  to  rest, 
confiding  us  to  a  ponyman  who  very  nearly  lost  us  in  a 
fog.  The  ponies  could  only  approach  the  base,  the  rest 
was  pretty  stiff  climbing. 

The  Upper,  the  Middle,  and  the  Lower  Lake  are  all 
lovely,  but  the  last  was  particularly  attractive  from  its 
connection  with  the  local  hero — the  Great  O'Donoghue, 
whose  story  we  gleaned  from  our  guides  and  particu- 
larly a  boy  who  carried  our  luncheon  basket  up 
Mangerton.  He  was  a  magician  and  had  the  power 
of  taking  any  shape  he  pleased,  but  he  ended  by  a 
tremendous  leap  into  the  Lake,  after  which  he  never 
returned  to  his  home.  Once  every  seven  years,  however, 
between  six  and  seven  on  May  Day  morning,  he  rides 
from  one  of  the  islands  in  the  Lower  Lake  to  the  opposite 
shore,  with  fairies  strewing  flowers  before  him,  and  for 
the  time  his  Castle  also  reappears.  Any  unmarried 
man  who  sees  him  will  marry  a  rich  wife,  and  any 
unmarried  woman  a  rich  husband.  Our  boatman 
pointed  out  an  island  where  girls  used  to  stand  to  see 
him  pass,  but  no  one  ever  saw  him  except  an  old  boat- 
man, and  he  had   been  married  a   long  time,  so  the 


THE   O'DONOGHUES  46 

apparition  did  not  help  him.  No  O'Donoghue  has 
ever  been  drowned  since  the  hero's  disappearance. 
We  heard  two  different  versions  of  the  cause  of  the 
tragedy.  Both  attributed  it  to  his  wife's  want  of  self- 
control.  One  related  that  the  husband  was  in  the 
habit  of  nmning  about  as  a  hare  or  a  rabbit,  and  as 
long  as  she  did  not  laugh  all  went  well,  but  when  he 
took  this  flying  leap  into  the  water  she  burst  into  a 
fit  of  laughter  and  thereby  lost  him  permanently.  Our 
boy  guide's  story  was  more  circumstantial  and  more 
dramatic.  According  to  him,  the  O'Donoghue  once 
turned  himself  into  an  eel,  and  knotted  himself  three 
times  round  Ross  Castle,  where  he  lived  (a  super-eel 
or  diminutive  castle !  ) .  This  frightened  the  lady 
dreadfully,  and  he  told  her  that  if  she  "  fritted  "  three 
times  on  seeing  any  of  his  wonders  she  would  see  him 
no  more.  Some  time  after  he  turned  himself  into  a 
goose  and  swam  on  the  lake,  and  she  shrieked  aloud, 
thinking  to  lose  him.  Finally  he  brought  out  his 
white  horse  and  told  her  that  this  was  her  last  chance 
of  restraining  her  fears.  She  promised  courage  and 
kept  quiet  while  he  rode  straight  up  the  Castle  wall, 
but  when  he  turned  to  come  down  she  fainted,  where- 
upon, horse  and  all,  he  leapt  into  the  water.  The  boy  also 
declared  that  in  the  previous  year  he  was  seen  by  two 
boatmen,  a  lady  and  a  gentleman,  another  man,  and 
some  "  company,"  whereupon  the  lady  fainted — recalling 
the  lady  of  O'Donoghue,  it  was  the  least  she  could  do. 
In  the  lower  Lake  may  still  be  seen  rocks  representing 
the  chieftain's  pigeons,  his  spy-glass,  his  books  con- 
taining the  "  Ould  Irish,"  and  his  mice  (only  to  be 
seen  on  Sundays  after  prayers).  In  the  Bitter  Lake, 
which  was  pointed  out  to  us  from  a  distance,  is  the 
fairy-island  where  he  dances  with  the  fairies. 


46  A    VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

The  O'Donoghue  in  his  lifetime  had  his  frivolous 
moments.  He  once  changed  a  number  of  fern  fronds 
into  little  pigs,  which  he  took  to  the  fair  at  Killarney 
and  sold  to  the  jobbers.  They  looked  just  like  other 
pigs  until  the  purchasers  reached  some  running  water. 
As  we  all  know,  running  water  dissolves  any  spell, 
and  the  pigs  all  turned  back  into  little  blades  of  fern. 
As  testimony  to  the  authenticity  of  this  tale  the  water 
was  duly  shown  to  us.  The  O'Donoghue,  however,  knew 
that  the  jobbers  would  not  remain  placid  under  the 
trick,  so  he  went  home  and  told  his  maid  to  say,  if 
anyone  asked  for  him,  that  he  had  gone  to  bed  and  to 
sleep  and  could  only  be  wakened  by  pulling  his  legs. 
The  jobbers  arrived,  received  the  message,  went  in 
and  pulled  his  legs,  which  immediately  came  off! 
Off  they  ran  in  alarm,  thinking  that  they  had  killed  the 
man,  but  the  good  O'Donoghue  was  only  having  his 
fun  with  them,  so  called  them  back  and  returned  their 
money.  We  picked  up  a  good  deal  of  fairy-lore  during 
our  sojourn  in  the  south  of  Ireland,  and  I  record  it  as 
it  may  have  passed  away  during  the  past  half-century. 
The  driver  who  took  us  to  the  Gap  of  Dunloe  told  me 
that  in  his  mother's  time  a  woman  working  in  the 
fields  put  down  her  baby.  While  she  was  out  of  the 
way  the  steward  saw  the  fairies  change  it  for  a  fairy- 
baby  who  would  have  been  a  plague  to  her  all  her  life. 
So  as  the  child  was  crying  and  shrieking  he  stood  over 
it  and  declared  that  he  would  shoot  the  mother  or  any- 
one else  who  should  come  near  it,  and  as  no  one  came 
to  comfort  it  the  fairies  could  not  leave  their  baby 
to  cry  like  that,  so  they  brought  back  the  stolen  child 
and  took  away  their  own.  That  steward  was  such  a 
man  of  resource  that  one  cannot  help  wishing  that  he 
were  alive  to  deal  with  the  Sinn  Feiners  of  the  present 


MYTHS  AND   LEGENDS  47 

day.  Another  piece  of  good  advice  which  we  received 
was,  if  we  saw  a  fairy  (known  by  his  red  jacket)  in 
a  field  to  keep  an  eye  fixed  on  him  till  we  came  up 
with  him — then  to  take  away  his  purse,  and  each  time 
we  opened  it  we  should  find  a  shilling.  I  regret  to  say 
that  I  never  had  the  opportunity,  but  the  guide,  remark- 
ing my  father's  tendency  to  give  whenever  asked, 
observed  that  he  thought  his  lordship  had  found  a 
fairy  purse.  It  is  a  commonplace  to  notice  the  similarity 
of  folk-lore  in  many  lands  pointing  to  a  common  origin, 
but  it  is  rather  curious  to  compare  the  tale  of  the 
O'Donoghuc  with  that  of  the  Physicians  of  Myddfai  in 
South  Wales.  Only  in  that  the  husband,  not  the  wife, 
caused  the  final  tragedy.  The  fairy- wife,  rising  from  the 
Lake,  warns  her  mortal  husband  that  she  will  disappear 
for  ever  if  he  strikes  her  three  times.  Long  years  they 
live  in  happiness,  but  thrice  does  he  give  her  a  slight 
blow  to  arouse  her  from  unconventional  behaviour 
at  a  christening,  a  wedding,  and  a  funeral  respectively. 
Thereupon  she  wends  her  way  to  the  Lake  and  like  a 
white  cloud  sinks  into  its  waters.  She  leaves  her  sons 
a  legacy  of  wisdom  and  healing  skill,  and  from  time  to 
time  a  shadowy  form  and  clear  voice  come  to  teach 
them  still  deeper  knowledge. 

From  the  south  of  Ireland  we  went  to  the  north,  but 
I  regret  to  say  were  not  nearly  so  fascinated  by  the 
loyal  Ulsterman  as  by  the  forthcoming  sons  of  the  south. 
Nevertheless  we  enjoyed  the  wild  scenery  of  Lough 
Swilly  and  the  legends  connected  with  Dunluce  Castle 
and  the  Giant's  Causeway.  Among  the  tales  of  Dun- 
luce  was  that  of  a  banshee  whose  duty  it  is  (or  was) 
to  keep  clean  one  of  the  rooms  in  the  ruin.  The  old 
man  who  sliowed  us  r)ver  declared  tliat  she  did  not  always 
properly  fulfil  her  task.     She  is  sup[)osed  to  be  the  spirit 


48  A    VICTORIAN    GIRL  [ch.  ii 

of  a  cook  who  fell  over  the  rocks  into  the  water  and 
reappears  as  a  tall  woman  with  red  hair.  The  place  of 
cook  must  have  been  a  rather  trying  one  in  ancient 
days,  for  the  kitchen  pointed  out  to  us  was  on  the  edge 
of  a  precipice  and  we  were  told  that  once  when  a  good 
dinner  was  prepared  the  attendants  let  it  all  fall  into  the 
sea  !  It  was  not,  however,  explained  whether  this  was 
the  occasion  on  which  the  like  fate  befell  the  cook. 
Possibly  she  died  in  a  frantic  effort  to  rescue  it. 

The  Giant's  Causeway  was  very  interesting.  We 
first  entered  Portcorn  Cave,  which  has  fine  colours  and 
a  great  deal  of  froth  said  to  have  been  caused  by  the 
giant's  washerwoman  washing  a  few  collars  there. 
The  giant  in  question  was  called  Fin  MacCoul,  and  at 
the  same  time  there  lived  another  Giant  in  Scotland 
called  Benadadda.  Wishing  to  pass  backwards  and 
forwards,  the  two  agreed  that  Fin  should  pave  a  way 
of  columns  and  Benadadda  should  work  it.  Hence 
Fingal's  Cave — gal  or  gael  meaning  "  the  stranger '' — 
presumably  the  name  was  given  in  compliment  to  the 
future  guest.  But  the  two  champions  found  the  work 
harder  than  they  had  expected,  and  Benadadda  sent  to 
tell  Fin  that  if  he  did  not  make  haste  he  must  come  over 
and  give  him  a  beating.  Fin  returned  that  he  was  not 
to  put  himself  out,  but  to  come  if  he  pleased.  Soon 
after  Fin  rushed  in  crying  out  to  his  wife,  "  Goodness 
gracious !  he's  coming.  I  can't  face  that  fellow !  " 
And  he  tumbled  into  bed. 

Soon  Benadadda  walked  in.     "  Good  day,  ma*am. 
Ye're  Mrs.  McCoul  ?  " 

"  Yes,  sir  ;    I  percave  you  are  Benadadda  ?  " 

"  I  am  ma'am.     Is  Fin  at  home  ?  " 

"  He's  just  gone  into  the  garden  for  a  few  vegetables, 
but  he'll  be  back  directly.     Won't  ye  take  a  cheer  ?  " 


THE   GIANT   BENADADDA  49 

"  Thank  you  kindly  " — and  lie  sat  down. 

She  continued  :  "  Fve  got  a  little  boy  in  that  cradle 
and  we  think  he's  taything,  fer  he  won't  give  the  fayther 
nor  me  any  raste.  Just  put  your  finger  along  his 
gums." 

Benadadda,  unable  to  refuse  a  lady,  put  his  fingers 
into  Fin's  mouth,  who  promptly  bit  them  off,  and  then 
jumping  up  called  on  Benadadda  to  come  on.  The 
Scottish  giant,  unable  to  fight  with  his  wounded  hand, 
told  them,  "  I  wish  I'd  never  come  among  you  craters," 
and  walked  off.  Mrs.  MacCoul  ran  after  him  with  an 
oatcake,  but  having  tasted  it  he  said,  "  Very  good 
outside,  but  give  the  rest  to  your  goodman  "  ;  for  she 
had  baked  the  tin  girdle  inside  the  cake.  This  is  how 
I  recorded  the  tale,  which  I  suppose  I  picked  up  locally, 
but  I  have  somewhere  heard  or  read  another  account 
in  which,  without  waiting  for  his  fingers  to  be  bitten 
off,  Benadadda  exclaimed,  "  Begorra,  is  that  the  baby  ? 
then  I'll  be  but  a  mouthful  to  the  fellow  himself,"  and 
made  off. 

I  am  unable  to  say  which  version  is  authentic,  but 
neither  seems  to  attribute  undaunted  valour  to  either 
champion,  and  both  agree  that  Irish  wit  got  the  better 
of  superior  Scottish  strength.  I  record  these  tales  rather 
than  attempt  description  of  the  Caves  and  other  beauties 
of  the  coast,  as  the  physical  features  remain  and  the 
legends  may  be  forgotten.  The  great  rocks  shaped 
like  columns  are  called  the  Giant's  Organs,  and  are 
(or  were)  supposed  to  play  every  Christmas  mornhig. 
'i'he  tune  they  play  is  "  St.  Patrick's  day  in  the  morning," 
upon  hearing  which  the  whole  Causeway  dances  round 
three  times. 

We  left  Ireland  at  the  end  of  August,  having  thoroughly 
enjoyed   our   travels   there.      It   was   then   a   peaceful 


50  A   VICTORIAN   GIRL  [ch.  ii 

country.  The  Queen  had  given  her  name  to  Queens- 
town  Harbour  in  1849,  and  I  suppose  had  visited  Killar- 
ney  on  the  same  occasion.  Anyhow,  memories  of  her 
stay  still  lingered  there.  I  recollect  even  now  the 
enthusiasm  with  which  a  boatman  who  had  been  one 
of  those  who  had  taken  her  on  the  Lake  said,  "  I  passed 
a  long  day  looking  at  her."  It  was  a  thousand  pities 
that  she  did  not  often  revisit  Ireland. 


CHAPTER   III 

MARRIAGE 

Next  year — 1870 — all  thoughts  were  to  a  large  extent 
taken  up  with  the  P^anco-Gernian  War.  It  does  not 
seem  to  me  that  we  took  violent  sides  in  the  struggle. 
Naturally  we  were  quite  ignorant  of  the  depths  of 
cruelty  latent  in  the  German  nature,  or  of  the  ma- 
noeuvres on  the  part  of  Bismarck  which  had  led  to  the 
declaration  of  war.  We  were  fond  of  our  sister's 
French  governess  Mdlle.  Verdure,  and  sorry  for  the 
terrible  collapse  of  her  country,  but  I  thuik  on  the  whole 
that  the  strongest  feeling  in  our  family  was  amazement 
at  the  revelation  of  inefficiency ]on  the  part  of  the  French, 
mingled  with  some  admiration  for  the  completeness  of 
(Jerman  organisation.  Anyhow,  everyone  was  set 
to  work  to  provide  comforts  for  the  sick  and  wounded 
on  both  sides — medical  stores  whicli  I  fancy  would  have 
been  to  a  large  extent  condenmed  wholesale  if  submitted 
to  the  medical  authorities  during  the  late  War,  but 
which  I  am  sure  were  very  useful  and  acceptable  in 
'70-71.  As  is  well  known,  that  winter  was  an  excep- 
tionally hard  one — we  had  fine  times  skating,  and  I 
remember  a  very  pleasant  visit  to  old  Lord  Bathurst 
at  Cirencester— iaut  it  must  have  been  terrible  in 
Paris.  Our  French  man-cook  had  some  refugee 
sisters  quartered  in  the  neighbourhood  who  were  em- 
ployed  by  my  mother  in  dressmaking  work    for   our 


52  MARRIAGE  [ch.  hi 

benefit,  but  I  do  not  know  whether  refugees  were 
numerous  in  England. 

What  did  really  excite  us  in  common  with  all  England 
were  the  excesses  of  the  Commune.  Never  shall  I 
forget  the  papers  coming  out  with  terrific  headlines  : 
"  Paris  in  Flames — Burning  of  the  Tuileries,"  and  so 
on.  I  passed  the  morning  in  floods  of  tears  because 
they  were  "  burning  history,"  and  had  to  be  rebuked 
by  my  mother  for  expressing  the  wish  that  the  incen- 
diaries could  be  soaked  in  petroleum  and  themselves 
set  on  fire. 

The  year  1871  was  rendered  interesting  to  our  family 
by  the  marriages  of  our  two  Leigh  uncles — Chandos,  com- 
monly known  among  us  as  "  Uncle  Eddy,"  married  an 
amiable  and  good-looking  Miss  Rigby,  who  inherited 
money  from  a  (deceased)  Liverpool  father.  Uncle  Eddy 
was  a  great  character.  A  fine,  athletic  man,  successful 
in  every  walk  of  life  which  he  entered,  a  good  horseman, 
cricketer  and  actor,  he  did  well  at  the  Bar  and  seemed 
to  know  practically  everybody  and  to  be  friends  with 
them  all.  He  was  blessed  with  supreme  self-confidence 
and  appeared  innocently  convinced  that  everyone  was 
as  much  interested  in  his  affairs  as  he  was  himself. 
This  childlike  disposition  was  really  attractive,  and 
quite  outweighed  the  boyish  conceit  which  endured  to 
the  end  of  a  long  and  useful  life. 

His  love  affairs  with  Miss  Rigby  were  naturally  very 
public  property.  I  heard  all  about  them  from  the 
beginning,  and  have  no  doubt  that  anyone  of  age 
to  listen  and  capable  of  sympathising  was  similarly 
favoured.  He  originally  proposed  to  the  young  lady 
after  a  few  days'  acquaintance,  and  she  turned  pale 
and  said  "  You  have  no  right  to  speak  to  me  in  this 
way."     Ups   and   downs   followed,   including  a  con- 


FANNY   KEMBLE  53 

sultation  with  planchette,  which  quite  properly  wavered 
and  shook  and  spoke  with  an  uncertain  voice.     This 
was  all  in  1870.     Some  time  in  January  we  acted  a  small 
farce    which    I   had  perpetrated  called  The  Detective. 
When  it  was  over  my  uncle  informed  me  that  failing 
his  marriage  he  intended  to  leave  me  a  thousand  pounds 
in  recognition  of  this  play.     Fortunately  I  founded  no 
hopes   on   that  thousand  pounds,  for  I  think  that  it 
was   the    following   morning  when  Uncle  Eddy  came 
shouting   along    the    top    corridor    where    we    slept. 
"  Margaret — you've    lost    your    thousand     pounds  !  " 
The  post  had  come  in  and  the  fair  lady  had  relented. 
James,  my  father's  youngest  brother,  called  "  Uncle 
Jinmiy,"  had  travelled  in  the  United  States  and  been 
entertained  on  her  plantation  in  Georgia  by  a  charming 
Southern  lady — a  Miss  Butler,  daughter  of  the  descen- 
dant of  an  old  Irish  family  who  had  married  the  well- 
known  actress  Fanny  Kemble.     Mr.   and  Mrs.   Pierce 
Butler  had  separated — not  from  any  wrong-doing,  but 
from    absolute    incompatibility    of    temper.     For    one 
thing  the  wife  took  up  a  violent  anti-slavery  attitude— 
a  little  awkward  when  (as  she  must  have  known  when 
she  married)  the  husband  owned  a  cotton  plantation 
worked  by  slave  labour.     However,  the  two  daughters 
remained   on   friendly   terms   with   both   parents,   and 
Mr.    Butler   died    during — or   shortly   after — the    war. 
One  daughter  married  a  Dr.   Wister  and  became  the 
mother  of  the  well-known  author,  Owen  Wister ;  the 
younger,  Frances,  married  my  uncle  and  was  adopted 
into  the  family  as  "  Aunt  Fanny."     Though  some  ten 
or  eleven  years  older  than  myself,  she  and  I  became  the 
greatest  friends,  and  I  umch  liked  her  somewhat  erratic, 
though  withal  stately,  mother,  who  was  called  "  Mrs. 
Kemble."     Both    Uncles   were    married    (on    different 


54  MARRIAGE  [ch.  iii 

days)  in  June  1871,  my  sister  Agnes  being  bridesmaid 
to  Miss  Butler  and  I  to  Miss  Rigby. 

Both  marriages  were  very  happy  ones,  though  my 
Uncle  Chandos  ended  his  life  in  a  dark  cloud  cast  by  the 
late  War — in  which  he  lost  his  only  two  sons,  and  his 
wife  was  killed  in  a  motor  accident  not  long  after  his 
death. 

Since  I  wrote  above  I  have  found  an  old  journal 
from  May  18th,  1868,  to  November  3rd,  1869.  I  do  not 
extract  much  from  it,  as  it  largely  consists  of  records  of 
the  various  balls  and  entertainments  which  we  attended 
— but  it  is  rather  amusing  to  note  what  circumstances, 
social  and  otherwise,  struck  the  fancy  of  a  girl  in  her 
first  two  seasons.  Politically  the  Irish  Church  Bill 
seems  to  have  been  the  burning  question.  We  went  to 
part  of  the  Debate  on  the  Second  Reading  (June  17th, 
1869)  in  the  House,  and  1  not  only  give  a  summary  of 
Lord  Salisbury's  speech,  but  when  the  Bill  was  carried, 
devote  over  two  pages  of  my  journal  to  a  full  description 
of  the  details  of  the  measure.  The  causes  celebres  of 
Madame  Rachel,  the  Beauty  Doctor,  and  of  the  nun, 
Miss  Saurin,  against  her  Mother  Superior,  Mrs.  Starr, 
appear  also  to  have  been  topics  of  conversation. 

One  visit  is  perhaps  worth  recording.  My  father's 
mother  was  a  Miss  Willes  of  an  old  family  living  on  the 
borders  of  Northamptonshire  and  Oxfordshire — regular 
country  people.  One  of  her  brothers,  Charles,  was 
married  to  a  certain  Polly — I  think  she  was  a  Miss 
Waller,  but  anyhow  they  were  a  plump,  old-fashioned 
pair.  She  was  supposed  to  keep  a  book  in  which  were 
recorded  the  names  of  over  a  hundred  nephews  and 
nieces,  and  to  sell  a  pig  to  give  a  present  to  any  one  of 
the  number  who  married.  On  the  last  day  of  1868  my 
brother  Gilly  and  I  went  with  our  Aunt  Georgiana 


AN   OLD-FASHIONED  CHRISTMAS  55 

to  stay  ^^^th  this  charming  old  couple  at  King- Sutton 
Manor  House  near  Banbury.  This  is  how  I  describe 
the  New  Year  festivities  of  fifty  years  ago  :  "  It  is  a 
queer  old  house  like  one  in  a  stoiybook,  full  of  corners. 
My  wash-stand  was  in  a  recess  with  a  window,  separated 
from  the  rest  of  the  room  by  doors  so  that  it  looked 
like  a  chapel.  We  had  dinner  between  six  and  seven,  a 
real  Christmas  dinner  with  nearly  twenty  people — great- 
uncle  Charles,  great-aunt  ]\Iartha,  great-aunt  Sophy, 
George  Willes,  Willie  Willes,  Stany  Waller,  the  clergy- 
man Mr.  Bruce,  Aunt  Polly  herself  beaming  at  the 
head  of  the  table,  turkey  and  beef  stuck  with  holly, 
and  the  plum-pudding  brought  in,  in  flaming  brandy.  .  .  . 
Almost  ever}'one  seemed  related  to  all  the  rest.  A  few 
more  people  came  after  dinner  while  we  were  in  the 
drawing-room  and  the  dining-room  was  being  cleared 
for  dancing.  Two  fiddlers  and  a  blowing-man  were 
then  perched  on  a  table  in  a  corner  and  dancing  began — 
quadrilles,  lancers,  jig,  reel,  and  valse  carried  on  with 
the  utmost  energ}',  by  Aunt  Polly  in  particular,  till 
about  half-past  eleven,  when  nmffled  bells  began  to 
ring  in  a  church  close  by  and  the  dancing  was  stopped 
that  we  might  all  listen.  At  twelve  o'clock  the  muffles 
were  taken  off,  Aunt  Polly  charged  with  Xmas  cards 
into  the  midst  of  her  company,  punch  was  brought  in 
in  great  cups,  silver,  I  believe ;  everyone  kissed,  shook 
hands,  and  wished  everyone  else  a  Happy  New  Year, 
the  bells  rang  a  joy-peal,  and  we  had  supper,  and  then 
began  dancing  again  till  between  one  and  two  in  the 
niorning.  After  many  efTorts  Oilly  succeeded  in  catch- 
ing Aunt  Polly  under  the  misletoe  and  kissing  her."  I 
do  not  know  what  a  "  blowing-man  "  may  have  been, 
Ijut  have  a  vivid  recollection  of  Aunt  Polly  trying  to 
"lance  everj'one  down   in   u   perpetual  jig,   and   of   the 


56  MARRIAGE  [ch.  hi 

portly  figure  of  Uncle  Charles,  who  had  to  be  accommo- 
dated with  two  chairs  at  dinner. 

We  had  other  very  pleasant  visits — and  amongst 
them  we  stayed  with  my  uncle  and  aunt  Wenlock  for 
my  cousin  Carry  Lawley's  wedding  to  Captain  Caryl 
Molyneux.  This  marriage  was  particularly  interesting 
to  all  the  cousinhood,  as  it  was  brought  about  after 
considerable  opposition.  Carry  was  an  extraordinarily 
pretty,  lively,  and  attractive  girl  rather  more  than  a 
year  older  than  myself.  She  had  brilliant  eyes  and 
auburn  hair  and  was  exceedingly  clever  and  amusing. 
Her  family  naturally  expected  her  to  make  a  marriage 
which  would  give  all  her  qualities  a  wide  sphere.  How- 
ever, at  the  mature  age  of  eleven  she  won  the  affections 
of  Lord  Sef  ton's  younger  brother  and  he  never  fluctuated 
in  his  choice.  I  do  not  know  at  what  exact  moment  he 
disclosed  his  admiration,  but  he  contrived  to  make  the 
young  lady  as  much  in  love  with  him  as  he  was  with  her. 
Vainly  did  her  mother  refuse  consent.  Carry  stuck  to 
her  guns,  and  I  believe  ultimately  carried  her  point  by 
setting  up  a  cough  !  Anyhow  the  parents  gave  in,  and 
when  they  did  so,  accepted  the  position  with  a  good 
grace.  Somehow  what  was  considered  sufficient  pro- 
vision for  matrimony  was  made  and  Caryl  and  Carry 
were  married,  on  a  brilliant  spring  day  in  April  1870. 

It  was  at  the  Wenlocks'  London  house,  in  the  follow- 
ing year,  that  I  made  the  acquaintance  of  Lord  Jersey. 
We  had  unknowingly  met  as  children  at  an  old  inn  on 
Edgehill  called  "  The  Sunrising "  ;  at  that  time  his 
parents,  Lord  and  Lady  Villiers,  lived  not  far  off  at 
Upton  House,  which  then  belonged  to  Sarah,  Lady 
Jersey.  While  my  brother  and  I  were  playing  outside, 
a  boy  with  long  fair  hair  looked  out  of  the  inn  and 
smilingly  lashed  his  whip  at  us,  unconscious  that  it  was 


A   PRE-MATRIMONIAL   PARTY  67 

his  first  salutatiou  to  his  future  wife !  I  discovered  in 
after  years  that  George  Villiers,  as  he  then  was,  used  to 
ride  over  for  lessons  to  a  neighbouring  clergyman  and 
put  up  his  pony  at  the  inn. 

At  the  dinner-party  at  Berkeley  Square  Lord  Jersey 
did  not  take  me  in,  and  I  had  not  the  slightest  idea  who 
he  was,  but  when  the  ladies  left  the  dining-room  I  was 
laughed  at  for  having  monopolised  his  attention  when 
he  was  intended  to  talk  to  his  partner.  He  was  reckoned 
exceedingly  shy,  and  I  thought  no  more  of  the  matter 
till  the  following  season,  to  which  I  shall  return  in  due 
course. 

After  our  return  to  Stoneleigh,  though  I  do  not 
recollect  in  which  month  (1  think  August),  we  had  a 
large  and  gay  party  including  a  dance — it  was  dis- 
tinctly a  pre-matrimonial  party,  as  three  of  the  girls 
whom  it  included  were  either  engaged  or  married  before 
twelve  months  were  over,  though  none  of  them  to  the 
men  present.  The  three  girls  were  Gwendolen  (then 
called  Gwendaline)  Howard,  who  married  Lord  Bute  ; 
Maria  Fox-Strangways,  married  to  Lord  Bridport's  son 
Captain  Hood  ;  and  myself.  Rather  oddly,  a  much 
older  man  and  a  widower,  Lord  Raglan,  who  was  also  of 
the  party,  caught  the  matrimonial  microbe  and  married 
his  second  wife  in  the  ensuing  autumn. 

Among  others  my  cousin  and  great  friend  Hugh 
Shaw-Stewart  was  there  and  immortalised  our  doings  in 
verse.  At  Christmas  time  I  managed  to  get  slight  con- 
gestion of  the  lungs  and  soon  after  went  to  spend  some 
time  with  my  kind  uncle  and  aunt  Sir  Michael  and  Lady 
Octavia  Shaw-Stewart  at  Fonthill,  and  Hughie,  who  had 
also  buflered  from  chest  trouble,  stayed  with  his  parents 
there  while  preparing  for  Oxford. 

Fonthill,  as  is  well  known,  belonged  to  the  eccentric 


58  MARRIAGE  [ch.  hi 

Beckford  and  was  full  of  his  traditions.  After  his 
death  the  property  was  divided  and  my  grandfather 
Westminster  bought  the  portion  which  included  Beck- 
ford's  old  house,  of  which  the  big  tower  had  fallen  down, 
and  built  himself  a  modern  house  lower  down  the  hill. 
Another  part  was  bought — I  do  not  know  when— by 
Mr.  Alfred  Morrison.  When  my  grandfather  West- 
minster died  in  the  autumn  of  1869  he  left  the  reversion 
of  Fonthill  Abbey  to  Uncle  Michael.  Perhaps  he  thought 
that  the  Shaw- Stewarts  should  have  an  English  as  well 
as  a  Scottish  home.  However  that  might  have  been, 
Fonthill  is  a  delightful  place — and  I  benefited  by  their 
residence  there  at  this  time.  I  think  that  they  were 
only  to  come  into  actual  possession  after  my  grand- 
mother's death — but  that  she  lent  it  to  them  on  this 
occasion  as  my  aunt  was  delicate  and  it  was  considered 
that  she  would  be  the  better  for  southern  air. 

The  modern  house  was  a  comfortable  one  with  good 
rooms,  but  had  a  peculiarity  that  no  room  opened  into 
another,  as  my  grandfather  objected  to  that  arrange- 
ment— dressing-rooms,  for  instance,  though  they  might 
open  into  the  same  lobbies,  might  not  have  doors  into 
the  bedrooms. 

Part  of  Beckford 's  old  house  higher  up  the  hill  was 
preserved  as  a  sort  of  museum.  The  story  was  that  he 
insisted  on  continuous  building,  Sundays  and  weekdays 
alike.  The  house  had  a  very  high  tower  which  could 
be  seen  from  a  hill  overlooking  Bath,  where  he  ultim- 
ately went  to  live.  Every  day  he  used  to  go  up  the 
hill  to  look  at  his  tower,  but  one  morning  when  he 
ascended  as  usual  he  saw  it  no  longer — it  had  fallen 
down.  It  used  to  be  implied  that  this  was  a  judgment 
on  the  Sunday  labour.  Also  we  were  told  that  he 
made  the  still- existing  avenues  and  drove  about  them 


FONTHILL   ABBEY  69 

at  night,  which  gave  him  an  uncanny  reputation. 
Probably  his  authorship  of  that  weird  tale  VatheJc  added 
to  the  mystery  which  surrounded  him.  He  had 
accumulated  among  many  other  treasures  a  number  of 
great  oriental  jars  from  the  Palace  of  the  King  of 
Portugal,  and  when  these  were  sold  after  his  death 
my  grandfather,  to  the  best  of  my  recollection, 
purchased  three. 

Mr.  Morrison  had  secured  a  good  many  of  the  others, 
which  I  saw  in  after  years  when  1  stayed  at  the  other 
Fonthill  House  which  he  had  built  on  his  part  of  the 
property.  Many  of  the  other  treasures  passed,  as  is 
well  known,  into  the  possession  of  Beckford's  daughter 
who  married  the  10th  Duke  of  Hamilton.  Alas — most 
of  them  must  have  been  dispersed  ere  now  ! 

Mr.  Alfred  Morrison,  when  I  was  at  Fonthill  with  my 
uncle  and  aunt,  was  a  subject  of  much  interest,  as  it 
was  rumoured  that  he  wanted  to  emulate  Beckford. 
I  do  not  quite  know  in  what  way  beyond  trying  to 
collect  the  oriental  jars.  He  was  a  distinctly  literary 
man,  and  was  reported  to  have  married  his  wife  because 
he  found  her  reading  a  Greek  grammar  in  the  train. 
Whether  or  no  that  was  the  original  attraction  I  cannot 
say,  but  she  proved  a  delightful  and  amusing  person 
when  I  met  her  in  after  years.  INIeantime  we  used  to 
hear  of  the  beautiful  horses  which  he  sent  to  the  meets 
of  the  local  hounds,  though  he  did  not  ride,  and  other 
proofs  of  his  wealth  and  supposed  eccentricity. 

My  uncle  as  well  as  my  aunt  being  far  from  strong, 
we  led  a  quiet  though  pleasant  life.  Hughie  and  I 
shared  a  taste  for  drawing  and  painting  of  very  amateur 
description  and  Hughie  used  to  help  me  with  J^atin 
verses,  in  which  1  then  liked  to  dabble. 

After  my   return  to  Stoneleigh   1   had  yet  another 


60  MARRIAGE  [ch.  hi 

treat.  My  Uncle  James  and  his  new  wife  "  Aunt 
Fanny  "  were  kind  enough  to  ask  me  to  share  in  the 
spring  their  first  trip  abroad  after  their  marriage.  We 
went  via  Harwich  to  Rotterdam  and  thence  for  a 
short  tour  in  Holland  and  Belgium  with  which  I  was 
highly  delighted.  The  quaint  canals,  the  cows  with 
table-cloths  on  their  backs,  the  queer  Jewish  quarter 
in  Amsterdam,  and  still  more  the  cathedrals  and  picture 
galleries  in  Belgium  gave  me  infinite  pleasure,  but  are 
too  well  known  to  describe. 

Even  the  copyist  in  the  Antwerp  Gallery  who,  being 
armless,  painted  with  his  toes  was  an  amusement,  as 
much  to  my  uncle,  who  loved  freaks,  as  to  myself. 
Ghent  and  Bruges  were  a  revelation ;  and  I  was  much 
entertained  by  the  guide  who  took  us  up  the  Belfry 
of  St.  Nicholas  (I  think  it  was)  at  the  former  city  and 
pointed  triumphantly  to  the  scenery  as  "  bien  beau, 
tout  plat,  pas  de  monta.gnes."  He  shared  the  old 
Anglo-Saxon  conception  of  Paradise. 

"  Nor  hills  nor  mountains  there 
Stand  steep,  nor  strong  cliffs 
Tower  high,  as  here  with  us  ;   nor  dells  nor  dales, 
Nor  mountain-caves,  risings,  nor  hilly  chains  ; 
Nor  thereon  rests  aught  unsmooth, 
But  the  noble  field  flourishes  under  the  skies 
With  delights  blooming." 

In  the  Cathedral  of  St.  Nicholas,  over  the  high  altar, 
was  an  image  of  the  saint  with  three  children  in  a  tub. 
My  uncle  asked  a  priest  what  he  was  doing  with  the 
children,  but  all  the  good  man  could  say  was  that  "  St. 
Nicolas  aimait  beaucoup  les  enfants,"  quite  ignorant 
of  the  miracle  attributed  to  his  own  saint,  namely, 
that  he  revived  three  martyred  boys  by  putting  them 
into  a  barrel  of  salt. 

Shortly  after  our  return  to  England  we  moved  to 


ENGAGEMENT  61 

Portman  Square  for  the  season.  At  a  diimer-party — 
I  believe  at  Lord  Caniperdown's — I  again  met  Lord 
Jersey,  but  fancied  that  he  would  have  forgotten  nie, 
and  subsequently  ascertained  that  he  had  the  same 
idea  of  my  memory.  So  we  did  not  speak  to  each 
other.  Later  on,  however,  my  father  told  my  mother 
that  he  had  met  Lord  Jersey  and  would  lilve  him  asked 
to  diuner.  The  families  had  been  friends  in  years  gone 
by,  but  had  drifted  apart.  My  mother  agreed,  sent 
the  invitation,  which  was  accepted.  In  arranging  how 
the  guests  were  to  sit  I  innocently  remarked  to  my 
mother  that  it  was  no  good  counting  Lord  Jersey  as  a 
young  man — or  words  to  that  effect — as  "  he  would 
never  speak  to  a  girl " — and  I  was  rather  surprised 
when  in  the  drawing-room  after  he  came  across  to  me 
and  made  a  few  remarks  before  the  party  broke  up. 

After  this  events  moved  rapidly  for  me.  Jersey, 
unexpectedly  to  many  people,  appeared  at  balls  at 
Montagu  House,  Northumberland  House  (then  still 
existing),  and  Grosvenor  House.  Also  he  came  to 
luncheon  once  or  twice  in  Portman  Square.  He  did  not 
dance  at  balls,  but  though  "  sitting-out "  was  not  then 
the  fashion  we  somehow  found  a  pretext — such  as 
looking  at  illuminations — for  little  walks.  Then  Lord 
ToUemache  drove  my  mother  and  me  to  a  garden-party 
at  Syon,  where  I  well  recollect  returning  from  another 
"  little  walk  "  across  a  lawn  where  my  mother  was 
sitting  with  what  appeared  to  me  to  be  a  gallery  of 
aunts. 

We  went  to  a  last  ball  at  the  Howards  of  Glossop  in 
Rutland  Gate,  and  discovering  that  we  were  about  to 
leave  London  Jersey  took  his  courage  in  two  hands 
and  came  to  Portman  Square.  July  l«Stli,  and  ull  was 
happily  settled. 


62  MARRIAGE  [ch.  hi 

I  went  next  morning — it  may  have  been  the  same 
evening — to  tell  Aunt  Fanny,  who  was  then  laid  up  at 
a  house  not  far  from  ours.  I  had  been  in  the  habit  of 
paying  her  constant  visits,  so  she  had  an  idea  of  what 
might  happen,  and  I  found  her  mother,  Mrs.  Fanny 
Kemble,  with  her.  One  word  was  enough  to  enlighten 
my  aunt,  who  then  said,  '*  May  I  tell  my  mother  ?  " 
I  assented,  and  she  said,  "  This  child  has  come  to  tell 
me  of  her  engagement."  Whereupon  Mrs.  Kemble 
demanded,  with  a  tragical  air  worthy  of  her  aunt  Mrs. 
Siddons,  "  And  are  you  very  happy,  young  lady  ?  "  I 
cheerfully  answered,  "  Oh  yes  " — and  she  looked  as  if 
she  were  going  to  cry.  My  aunt  said  afterwards  that 
any  marriage  reminded  her  of  her  own  unfortunate 
venture.  Aunt  Fanny  was  much  amused  when  I  con- 
fided to  her  that  finding  immediate  slumber  difficult 
the  first  night  of  my  engagement  I  secured  it  by  at- 
tempting the  longest  sum  which  I  could  find  in  Colenso's 
arithmetic.  My  brothers  and  sisters  accepted  the  news 
with  mixed  feelings — but  poor  little  Cordelia,  who  had 
been  left  at  Stoneleigh,  was  quite  upset.  I  wrote  her 
a  letter  in  which  I  said  that  Lord  Jersey  should  be  her 
brother  and  she  should  be  bridesmaid.  The  nurse  told 
me  that  she  burst  into  tears  on  receiving  it  and  said 
that  he  should  not  be  her  brother,  and  not  take  away 
Markie.  She  quite  relented  when  she  saw  him,  because 
she  said  that  he  had  nice  smooth  light  hair  like  Rowly 
— and  as  time  went  on,  she  suggested  that  if  Aggy 
would  only  "  marry  or  die  "  she  should  be  "  head  girl 
and  hear  the  boys  their  lessons.''  As  the  youngest 
"  boy  "  was  seven  years  older  than  herself  this  may  be 
regarded  as  an  exceptional  claim  for  woman's  supremacy 
in  her  family. 

My  future  mother-in-law,  Jersey's  mother,  and  his 


MARRIED   TO   LORD   JERSEY  63 

brothers  welcomed  me  most  kindly.  As  for  his  sisters, 
Lady  Julia  Wombwell  and  Lady  Caroline  Jenkins,  I 
cannot  say  enough  of  their  unvan'ing  friendship  and 
affection. 

I  was  engaged  about  the  middle  of  July,  and  shortly 
we  returned  to  Stoneleigh.  My  mother  was  terribly 
busy  afterwards,  as  my  brother  Gilbert  came  of  age 
on  the  first  of  September  and  the  occasion  was  cele- 
brated with  great  festivities,  including  a  Tenants'  Ball, 
when  the  old  gateway  was  illuminated  as  it  had  been 
for  the  Queen's  visit.  The  ivy,  however,  had  grown 
so  rapidly  in  the  intervening  years  that  an  iron  frame- 
work had  to  be  made  outside  it  to  hold  the  little  lamps. 
There  was  a  verv^  large  family  party  in  the  house,  and 
naturally  my  affairs  increased  the  general  excitement 
and  I  shared  with  my  brother  addresses  and  presenta- 
tions. As  my  mother  said— it  could  never  happen  to 
her  again  to  have  a  son  come  of  age  and  a  daughter 
married  in  the  same  month.  She  was  to  have  launched 
the  Lady  Leigh  lifeboat  in  the  middle  of  September, 
but  my  sister  was  commissioned  io  do  it  instead — and 
we  returned  to  Portman  Square  for  final  preparations. 
Like  most  girls  under  similar  circumstances  I  lived  in 
a  whirl  during  those  days,  and  my  only  clear  recollec- 
tions are  signing  Settlements  (in  happy  ignorance  of 
their  contents)  and  weeping  bitterly  the  night  before 
the  wedding  at  the  idea  of  parting  from  my  family, 
being  particularly  upset  by  my  brother  Dudley's  floods 
of  fraternal  tears.  However,  we  were  all  fairly  com- 
posed when  the  day — September  19th,  1872,  dawned — 
and  I  was  safely  married  l)y  my  Uncle  Jimmy  at  St. 
Thomas's  Church,  Orchard  Street.  It  was  not  our 
parish,  but  we  had  a  special  licence  as  it  was  more 
convenient.     My    bridesmaids    were    my    two    sisters, 


64  MARRIAGE  [ch.  iii 

Frances  Adderley,  one  of  the  Cholmondeleys,  Minna 
Finch  (daughter  of  my  father's  cousin  Lady  Aylesford) , 
and  Julia  WombwelFs  eldest  little  girl  Julia — after- 
wards Lady  Dartrey. 

When  all  was  over  and  farewells  and  congratulations 
ended,  Jersey  and  I  went  down  for  a  short  honeymoon 
at  Fonthill,  which  my  grandmother  lent  us.  So  ended 
a  happy  girlhood — so  began  a  happy  married  life.  I 
do  not  say  that  either  was  free  from  shadows,  but 
looking  back  my  prevailing  feeling  is  thankfulness — and 
what  troubles  I  have  had  have  been  mostly  of  my  own 
making. 

My  father  was  so  good — my  mother  so  wise.  One 
piece  of  advice  she  gave  me  might  well  be  given  to 
most  young  wives.  "  Do  not  think  that  because  you 
have  seen  things  done  in  a  particular  way  that  is  the 
only  right  one."'  I  cannot  resist  ending  with  a  few 
sentences  from  a  charming  letter  which  Aunt  Fanny 
wrote  me  when  I  went  to  Stoneleigh  after  my  engage- 
ment : 

**  I  have  thought  of  you  unceasingly  and  prayed 
earnestly  for  you.  I  could  not  love  you  as  I  do,  did 
1  not  believe  that  you  were  true  and  good  and  noble — 
and  on  that,  more  than  on  anything  else,  do  I  rest  my 
faith  for  your  future.  Oh,  Marky  my  darling  child, 
cling  to  the  good  that  is  in  you.  Never  be  false  to 
yourself.  I  see  your  little  boat  starting  out  on  the 
sea  of  life,  anxiously  and  tremblingly — for  I  know  full 
well  however  smooth  the  water  may  be  now  there  must 
come  rocks  in  everyone's  life  large  enough  to  wreck 
one.  Do  you  call  to  mind,  dear,  how  you  almost  wished 
for  such  rocks  to  battle  against  a  little  time  ago,  weary- 
ing of  the  tame,  even  stream  down  which  you  were 
floating  ?     God  be  with  you  when  you  do  meet  them." 


CHAPTER   IV 

EARLY  MARRIED   LIFE 

It  is  more  difficult  to  write  at  all  consecutively  of  my 
married  life  than  of  my  girlhood,  as  I  have  less  by 
which  I  can  date  its  episodes  and  more  years  to  tra- 
verse— but  I  must  record  what  I  can  in  such  order  as 
can  be  contrived. 

We  did  not  stay  long  at  Fonthill,  and  after  a  night 
or  two  in  London  came  straight  to  our  Oxfordshire 
home — Middleton  Park. 

My  husband's  grandfather  and  father  had  both  died 
in  the  same  month  (October  1859)  when  he  was  a  boy 
of  fourteen.  He  was  called  "  Grandison "  for  the 
three  weeks  which  intervened  between  their  deaths, 
having  been  George  Villiers  before,  so  when  he  returned 
again  to  Eton  after  his  father  died,  the  boys  said  that 
he  came  back  each  time  with  a  fresh  name.  His  grand- 
mother, however,  the  well-known  Sarah,  Lady  Jersey, 
continued  to  reign  at  Middleton,  for  the  largest  share 
of  the  family  fortune  belonged  to  her  as  heiress  of  her 
grandfather  Mr.  Child — and,  I  suppose,  in  recognition 
of  all  he  had  enjoyed  of  hers,  her  husband  left  her  the 
use  of  the  Welsh  property  and  she  alone  had  the  means 
to  keep  up  Middleton.  She  was  very  fond  of  my  hus- 
band, but  when  she  died,  soon  after  he  came  of  age 
and  inherited  the  place,  he  did  not  care  to  make  many 
changes,  and  though  his  mother  paid  lengthened  visits 

62 


66  EARLY   MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

she   had    never   really    been    mistress    of   the   house. 
Therefore  I  seemed  to  have  come  straight  upon  the 
traces  of  a  bygone  generation.     Even  the  china  boxes 
on  my  dressing-table  and  the  blotters  on  the  writing- 
tables  were  much  as  Lady  Jersey  had  left  them — and 
there  were  bits  of  needlework  and  letters  in  the  drawers 
which  brought  her  personally  vividly  before  me.     The 
fear  and  awe  of  her  seemed  to  overhang  the  village, 
and   the   children   were   still   supposed   to   go  to  the 
Infant  School  at  two  years  old  because  she  had  thought 
it  a  suitable  age.     She  had  been  great  at  education, 
had  built  or  arranged  schools  in  the  various  villages 
belonging  to  her,  and  had  endowed  a  small  training 
school  for  servants  in  connection  with  a  Girls'  School 
at  Middleton.     Naturally  the  care  of  that  school  and 
other  similar  matters  fell  to  my  province,  and  I  some- 
times felt,  as  I  am  sure  other  young  women  must  have 
done  under  similar  circumstances,  that   a   good   deal 
of  wisdom  was  expected  from  me  at  an  age  which  I 
should  have  considered  hardly  sufficient  for  a  second 
housemaid.     Some  of   the  schools  of  that  date   must 
have  been  quaint  enough.     An  old  lame  woman  still 
had  charge  of  the  Infant  School  at  the  neighbouring 
hamlet  of  Caulcot,  whom  we  soon  moved  into  the  Alms- 
houses.    In  after  years  one  of  her  former  pupils  told 
me  that  she  was  very  good  at  teaching  them  Scripture 
and   a   little   reading,   but  there   was  no   question   of 
writing.     If  the  old  lady  had  occasion  to  write  a  letter 
on  her  own  account  she  used  a  knitting-needle  as  a 
pen  while  my  informant  held  the  paper  steady.     If  a 
child  was  naughty  she  made  him  or  her  stand  crouched 
under  the  table  as  a  punishment.     She  never  put  on  a 
dress  unless  she  knew  that  Lady  Jersey  was  at  the 
Park,  and  then,  she  being  crippled  with  rheumatism,  her 


LORD  JERSEY'S   MOTHER  67 

pupil  had  to  stand  ou  a  chair  to  fasten  it  up,  lest  the 
great  lady  should  pay  a  surprise  visit. 

Sarah,  Lady  Jersey,  had  a  great  dislike  to  any  cutting 
dowTi  or  even  lopping  of  trees.  She  had  done  much 
towards  enlarging  and  planting  the  Park,  and  doubtless 
trees  were  to  her  precious  children.  Therefore  the 
agent  and  woodmen,  who  realised  the  necessity  of  a 
certain  amomit  of  judicious  thiiming,  used  to  wait 
until  she  had  taken  periodical  drives  of  inspection 
amongst  the  woods,  and  then  exercised  some  dis- 
cretion in  their  operations,  trusting  to  trees  having 
branched  out  afresh  or  to  her  having  forgotten  their 
exact  condition  before  she  came  again. 

In  one  school,  Somerton,  I  was  amused  to  find  a 
printed  copy  of  regulations  for  the  conduct  of  the 
children,  including  injunctions  never  to  forget  their 
benefactress.  But  she  was  really  exceedingly  good  to 
the  poor  people  on  the  property  and  thoughtful  as  to 
their  individual  requirements.  One  old  woman  near 
her  other  place,  Upton,  told  me  how  she  had  heard  of 
her  death  soon  after  receiving  a  present  from  her,  and 
added,  "  1  thought  she  went  straight  to  heaven  for 
sending  me  that  petticoat !  "  Also  she  built  good 
cottages  for  the  villagers  before  the  practice  was  as 
universal  as  it  became  later  on.  The  only  drawback 
was  that  she  would  at  times  insist  on  the  building 
being  carried  on  irrespective  of  the  weather,  with  the 
result  that  they  were  not  always  as  dry  as  they  should 
have  been. 

Lady  Jersey  was  well  known  in  the  world,  admired 
for  her  beauty  and  lively  converBation,  and  no  doubt 
often  flattered  for  her  wealth,  but  she  left  a  good  record 
of  charity  and  duties  fulfiUed  in  lior  own  homo. 

Aa  for  lier  beautiful  daughter  Lady  Clementina,  she 


68  EARLY    MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

was  locally  regarded  as  an  angel,  and  I  have  heard  that 
when  she  died  the  villagers  resented  her  having  been 
buried  next  to  her  grandmother,  Frances  Lady  Jersey, 
as  they  thought  her  much  too  good  to  lie  next  to  the 
lady  who  had  won  the  fleeting  affections  of  George  IV. 

I  soon  found  home  and  occupation  at  Middle  ton,  but 
I  confess  that  after  being  accustomed  to  a  large  and 
cheerful  family  I  found  the  days  and  particularly  the 
autumn  evenings  rather  lonely  when  my  husband  was 
out  hunting,  a  sport  to  which  he  was  much  addicted  in 
those  days.  However,  we  had  several  visitors  of  his 
family  and  mine,  and  went  to  Stoneleigh  for  Christmas, 
which  was  a  great  delight  to  me. 

Soon  after  we  went  abroad,  as  it  was  thought  desirable 
after  my  chest  attack  of  the  previous  winter  that  I 
should  not  spend  all  the  cold  weather  in  England.  We 
spent  some  time  at  Cannes,  and  I  fancy  that  it  really 
did  my  husband  at  least  as  much  good  as  myself — any- 
how he  found  that  it  suited  him  so  well  that  we  returned 
on  various  occasions. 

Sir  Robert  Gerard  was  then  a  great  promoter  of 
parties  to  the  He  Ste  Marguerite  and  elsewhere,  and 
the  Due  de  Vallombrosa  and  the  Duchesse  de  Luynes 
helped  to  make  things  lively. 

I  will  not,  however,  dwell  on  scenes  well  known  to 
so  many  people,  and  only  say  that  after  a  short  excursion 
to  Genoa  and  Turin  we  returned  in  the  early  spring,  or 
at  the  end  of  winter,  to  superintend  a  good  deal  of  work 
which  was  then  being  done  to  renovate  some  of  the 
rooms  at  Middleton.  At  the  beginning  of  May  we 
moved  to  7  Norfolk  Crescent — a  house  which  we  had 
taken  from  Mr.  Charles  Fane  of  Child's  Bank — and  my 
eldest  son  was  born  there  on  June  2nd,  1873.  He  had 
come  into  the  world  unduly  soon — before  he  was  ex- 


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/></m  liluilnjr.ifiltt  hjl  llir  /irrtrlil  ri/iliiK-t  "/  ./. 

MIDIil.l.lo.S     JAUK. 
M] 


IN   LONDON  69 

pected — and  inconveniently  selected  Whit  Monday 
when  the  shops  were  shut  and  we  were  unable  to  supply 
certain  deficiencies  in  the  preparations.  Nevertheless 
he  was  extremely  welcome,  and  though  very  small  on 
his  arrival  he  soon  made  up  for  whatever  he  lacked  in 
size,  and,  as  everyone  who  knows  him  will  testify,  he 
is  certainly  of  stature  sufficient  to  please  the  most 
exacting. 

My  mother-in-law  and  her  second  husband,  Mr. 
Brandling,  were  among  our  frequent  visitors.  Mr. 
Brandling  had  a  long  beard  and  a  loud  voice,  and  a  way 
uf  flinging  open  the  doors  into  the  dining-room  when 
he  came  in  in  the  morning  which  was  distinctly  start- 
ling. Apart  from  these  peculiarities  he  did  not  leave 
much  mark  in  the  world.  He  was  very  fond  of  reading, 
and  I  used  to  suggest  to  him  that  he  might  occupy 
himself  in  reviewing  books,  but  I  do  not  think  that 
he  had  much  power  of  concentration.  My  mother-in- 
law  was  tactful  with  him,  but  he  had  a  decided  temper, 
especially  when  he  played  whist.  As  I  did  not  play, 
this  did  not  affect  me. 

My  younger  sister-in-law,  Caroline,  and  I  were  great 
friends.  She  had  married  Mr.  Jenkins,  who  was  well 
known  as  a  sportsman  and  an  amiable,  genial  man.  His 
chief  claim  to  fame,  apart  from  his  knowledge  of  horses 
and  their  training,  was  an  expedition  which  he  had 
made  to  avenge  his  sist-er's  death  in  Abyssinia.  His 
sister  had  married  a  Mr.  Powell  and  she  and  her  husband 
had  been  murdered  by  natives  when  travelling  in  that 
country.  Mr.  Jenkins  and  Mr.  Powell's  brother  went 
to  l^gypt,  collected  followers,  went  into  the  territory 
where  the  murder  had  taken  place,  burned  the  village 
which  sheltered  the  aggressors,  and  had  the  chief  culprits 
handed  over  to  them  for  execution.     It  was  said  that 


70  EARLY   MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

the  fact  that  a  couple  of  Englishmen  would  not  leave 
their  relatives'  death  unavenged  produced  more  effect 
than  the  whole  Abyssinian  expedition. 

The  winter  after  my  boy's  birth  Caroline  lost  hers, 
who  was  a  few  months  older  than  mine,  and  was  herself 
very  ill,  so  we  invited  her  and  Mr.  Jenkins  to  join  us  at 
Cannes,  where  we  had  this  season  taken  a  villa — Isola 
Bella.  We  were  the  first  people  who  inhabited  it.  It 
has  since  been  greatly  enlarged  and  its  gardens  so 
extended  that  it  is  now  one  of  the  finest  houses  in  the 
place.  Even  then  it  was  very  pretty  and  attractive, 
and  we  enjoyed  ourselves  greatly. 

There  was  a  quaint  clergyman  at  that  time  who  had 
known  Caroline  when  she  had  been  sent  as  a  girl  to 
Hyeres,  where  he  then  ministered,  and  where  he  had 
been  famous  for  a  head  of  hair  almost  too  bushy  to 
admit  of  being  covered  by  a  hat.  He  was  anxious  to 
re-claim  acquaintance,  but  though  civil  she  was  not 
effusive.  He  was  noted  for  paying  long  visits  when  he 
got  into  anyone's  house.  I  heard  of  one  occasion  on 
which  his  name  was  announced  to  a  young  lady  who  was 
talking  to  a  man  cousin  whom  she  knew  well.  The 
youth  on  hearing  the  name  exclaimed  that  he  must 
hide,  and  crept  under  the  sofa.  The  visitor  stayed  on  and 
on  till  the  young  man  could  stand  his  cramped  position 
no  longer  and  suddenly  appeared.  The  parson  was 
quite  unmoved  and  unmovable  by  the  apparition  of 
what  he  took  to  be  a  lover,  and  merely  remarked  "  Don't 
mind  me !  " 

We  found  this  house  so  charming  that  we  sent  our 
courier  back  to  England  to  bring  out  our  boy.  My 
aunt.  Lady  Agnes,  and  her  husband.  Dr.  Frank,  with 
their  baby  girl,  lived  not  far  off — they  had  found  Isola 
Bella  for  us  and  were  pleasant  neighbours.     My  husband. 


ISOLA   BELLA.    CANNES  71 

Caroline,  and  myself  found  additional  occupation  in 
Italian  lessons  from  a  fiery  little  patriot  whose  name  I 
forget,  but  who  had  fought  in  the  war  against  the 
Austrians.  Among  other  things  he  had  a  lurid  story 
about  his  mother  whose  secrets  in  the  Confessional  had 
been  betrayed  by  a  priest,  resulting  in  the  arrest  and  I 
believe  death  of  a  relative.  After  which  though  the 
lady  continued  her  prayers  she — not  unnaturally — de- 
clined to  make  further  confessions. 

Our  sojourn  on  this  visit  to  Cannes  was  further 
brightened  by  Conservative  triumphs  m  the  1874 
elections.  We  used  to  sit  after  breakfast  on  a  stone 
terrace  in  front  of  the  villa,  Mr.  Jenkins  smoking  and 
Jersey  doing  crochet  as  a  pastime — being  no  smoker ; 
and  mornijig  after  morning  the  postman  would  appear 
with  English  papers  bringing  further  tidings  of  success. 

The  Jenkinses  returned  to  England  rather  before 
ourselves — we  travelled  back  towards  the  end  of  April 
in  singularly  hot  weather,  and  when  we  reached  Dover 
Jersey  left  me  there  for  a  few  days  to  rest  while  he 
went  back  to  Middleton.  Unfortunately  the  journey, 
or  something,  had  been  too  nmch  for  me,  and  a  little 
girl,  who  only  lived  for  a  day,  appeared  before  her 
time  at  the  Lord  Warden  Hotel.  It  was  a  great  dis- 
appointment, and  I  had  a  somewhat  tedious  month  at 
the  hotel  before  migrating  to  12  Gloucester  Square — 
the  house  which  we  had  taken  for  the  season. 

I  have  no  special  recollections  of  that  season,  though 
1  think  that  it  was  that  year  that  I  met  Lord  Beacons- 
field  at  the  Duke  of  Buccleuch's.  It  is,  however,  im- 
possible to  fix  exactly  tlic  years  in  which  one  dhied  in 
particular  places  and  met  particular  people,  nor  is  it 
at  all  important. 

1   would  rather  summarise    our    life  in  the  country, 


72  EARLY    MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

where  we  had  garden  parties,  cricket  matches,  and 
lawn  tennis  matches  at  which  we  were  able  to  entertain 
our  neighbours.  Now,  alas  !  the  whole  generation  who 
lived  near  Middleton  in  those  days  has  almost  passed 
away.  Our  nearest  neighbours  were  Sir  Henry  and 
Lady  Dashwood  at  Kirtlington  Park  with  a  family 
of  sons  and  daughters ;  Lord  Valentia,  who  lived  with 
his  mother,  Mrs.  Devereux,  and  her  husband  the  General 
at  Bletchington  ;  and  the  Drakes — old  Mrs.  Drake 
and  her  daughters  at  Bignell.  Sir  Henry's  family  had 
long  lived  at  Kirtlington,  which  is  a  fine  house,  originally 
built  by  the  same  architect — Smith,  of  Warwick — who 
built  the  new  portion  of  Stoneleigh  early  in  the  eigh- 
teenth century.  Sir  Henry  was  a  stalwart,  pleasant 
man,  and  a  convinced  teetotaller.  Later  on  than  the 
year  of  which  I  speak  the  Dashwoods  came  over  to 
see  some  theatricals  at  Middleton  in  which  my  brothers 
and  sisters  and  some  Cholmondeley  cousins  took  part. 
After  the  performance  they  gave  a  pressing  invitation 
to  the  performers  to  go  over  on  a  following  day  to 
luncheon  or  tea.  A  detachment  went  accordingly, 
and  were  treated  with  great  hospitality  but  rather 
like  strolling  players.  "  Where  do  you  act  next  ?  " 
and  so  on,  till  finally  Sir  Henry  burst  out :  "  What  an 
amusing  family  yours  is  !  Not  only  all  of  you  act, 
but  your  uncle  Mr.  James  Leigh  gives  temperance 
lectures  !  "  Sir  Henry's  son.  Sir  George  Dashwood, 
had  a  large  family  of  which  three  gallant  boys  lost  their 
lives  in  the  Great  War.  To  universal  regret  he  was 
obliged  to  sell  Kirtlington.  It  was  bought  by  Lord 
Leven,  whose  brother  and  heir  has  in  turn  sold  it  to 
Mr.  Budgett.  Not  long  before  I  married,  the  then 
owner  of  another  neighbouring  place — Sir  Algernon 
Peyton,  M.F.H.,   of   Swift's   House,   had  died.     Lord 


OXFORDSHIRE   NEIGHBOURS  73 

Valentia  took  the  Bicester  hounds  which  he  had  hunted, 
for  a  time,  rented  Swift's  from  his  widow,  and  ulti- 
mately did  the  wisest  thing  by  marrying  her  (1878) 
and  installing  her  at  Bletchington.  They  are  really 
the  only  remaining  family  of  my  contemporaries  sur- 
viving— and,  though  they  have  occasionally  let  it, 
they  do  live  now  in  their  own  house.  They  had  two 
sons  and  six  daughters — great  friends  of  my  children. 
The  eldest  son  was  killed  in  the  Great  War. 

Another  neighbour  was  a  droll  old  man  called  Roch- 
fort  Clarke,  who  lived  at  a  house  outside  Chesterton 
village  with  an  old  sister-in-law  whose  name  I  forget 
(I  think  Miss  Byrom) — but  his  wife  being  dead  he  was 
deeply  attached  to  her  sister.  Soon  after  our  marriage 
he  came  to  call,  and  afterwards  wrote  a  letter  to  con- 
gratulate us  on  our  happiness  and  to  say  that  had  it 
not  been  for  the  iniquitous  law  forbidding  marriage  with 
a  deceased  wife's  sister  we  should  have  seen  a  picture 

of  equal  domestic  felicity  in  him  and  Miss  .     He 

was  very  anxious  to  convert  Irish  Roman  Catholics 
to  the  ultra-Protestant  faith,  and  he  interpreted  the 
Second  Commandment  to  forbid  all  pictures  of  any  sort 
or  kind.  None  were  allowed  in  his  house.  Once  he 
wrote  a  letter  to  the  papers  to  protest  against  the 
ritualism  embodied  in  a  picture  in  Chesterton  Church — 
an  extremely  evangelical  place  where  Moody  and  Sankey 
hymns  prevailed.  Later  on  the  clergj^nan  took  me 
into  the  church  to  show  me  the  offending  idol.  It 
consisted  of  a  diminutive  figure — as  far  as  1  could  see 
of  a  man — in  a  very  small  window  high  up  over  the 
west  door.  The  most  appalling  shock  was  inflicted 
upon  him  by  a  visit  to  the  Exhibition  of  1 851,  where 
various  statuary  was  displayed  including  Gibson's 
"  Tinted  Venus."     This  impelled    liini  to  break  into  a 


74  EARLY    MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

song  of  protest  of  whicli  I  imperfectly  recollect  four 
lines  to  this  effect : 

"  Tell  me,  Victoria,  can  that  borrowed  grace 
Compare  with  Albert's  manly  form  and  face  ? 
And  tell  me,  Albert,  can  that  shameless  jest 
Compare  with  thy  Victoria  clothed  and  dressed?  " 

The  sister-in-law  died  not  long  after  I  knew  him,  and 
he  then  married  a  respectable  maid-servant  whom  he 
brought  to  see  us  dressed  in  brown  silk  and  white  gloves. 
Shortly  afterwards  he  himself  departed  this  life  and  the 
property  was  bought  by  the  popular  Bicester  banker 
Mr.  Tubb,  who  married  Miss  Stratton — a  second  cousin 
of  mine — built  a  good  house,  from  which  pictures  were 
not  barred,  and  had  four  nice  daughters. 

I  cannot  name  all  the  neighbours,  but  should  not  omit 
the  old  Warden  of  Merton,  Mr.  Marsham,  who  lived  with 
his  wife  and  sons  at  Caversfield.  The  eldest  son, 
Charles  Marsham,  who  succeeded  to  the  place  after  his 
death,  was  a  great  character  well  known  in  the  hunting 
and  cricket  fields.  He  was  a  good  fellow  with  a  hot 
temper  which  sometimes  caused  trying  scenes.  To- 
wards the  end  of  his  life  he  developed  a  passion  for 
guessing  Vanity  Fair  acrostics,  and  when  he  saw  you 
instead  of  "  How  d'ye  do  ?  "  he  greeted  you  with 
"  Can  you  remember  what  begins  with  D  and  ends  with 
F  ?  ''  or  words  to  that  effect.  There  was  a  famous 
occasion  when,  as  he  with  several  others  from  Middleton 
were  driving  to  Meet,  one  of  my  young  brothers  sug- 
gested some  solution  at  which  he  absolutely  scoffed. 
When  the  hounds  threw  off,  however,  Charlie  Marsham 
disappeared  and  missed  a  first-class  run.  It  was 
ultimately  discovered  that  he  had  slipped  away  to  a 
telegraph  ofiice  to  send  off  a  solution  embodying  my 
brother's  suggestion  ! 


CAVERSFIELD   CHURCH  75 

Caversfield  Church  was  a  small  building  of  consider- 
able antiquity  standing  very  close  to  the  Squire's 
house.  The  present  Lord  North,  now  an  old  man,  has 
told  me  that  long  ago  when  he  was  Master  of  Homids 
he  passed  close  to  this  church  out  cub-hunting  at  a 
very  early  hour,  when  the  sound  of  most  beautiful 
singing  came  from  the  tower,  heard  not  only  by  himself 
but  by  the  huntsmen  and  whips  who  were  with  him — 
80  beautiful  that  they  paused  to  listen.  Next  time 
he  met  the  clergyman,  who  was  another  Marsham  son, 
he  said  to  him.  "  What  an  early  service  you  had  in  your 
church  on  such  a  day  !  "  "I  had  no  weekday  service,'' 
replied  Mr.  Marsham,  and  professed  entire  ignorance 
of  the  "  angelic  choir."  I  have  never  discovered  any 
tradition  connected  with  Caversfield  Church  which 
should  have  induced  angels  to  come  and  sing  their 
morning  anthem  therein,  but  it  is  a  pretty  tale,  and  Lord 
North  was  convinced  that  he  had  heard  this  music. 

One  thing  is  certain,  the  tiny  agricultural  parish 
of  Caversfield  could  not  have  produced  songsters  to 
chant  Matins  while  the  world  at  large  was  yet  wrapped 
in  slumber. 

Thinking  of  Caversfield  Church,  I  recollect  attending 
a  service  there  when  the  Bishop  of  Oxford  (Mackarness, 
I  believe)  preached  at  its  reopening  after  restoration. 
In  the  course  of  his  sermon  he  remarked  that  there 
had  been  times  when  a  congregation  instead  of  thinking 
of  the  preservation  and  beautifying  of  the  sacred 
building  only  considered  how  they  should  make  them- 
selves comfortable  therein.  This,  as  reported  by  the 
local  representative,  appeared  in  the  Bicester  paper 
as  an  episcopal  comment  that  in  former  days  people 
had  neglected  to  make  themselves  comfortable  in 
church.     However,  my  old  Archdeacon  micle- by-mar- 


76  EARLY   MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

riage,  Lord  Saye  and  Sele,  who  was  a  distinctly  uncon- 
ventional thinker,  once  remarked  to  my  mother  that 
he  had  always  heard  church  compared  to  heaven,  and 
as  heaven  was  certainly  the  most  comfortable  place 
possible  he  did  not  see  why  church  should  not  be  made 
comfortable.  The  old  family  pew  at  Middleton  Church 
had  been  reseated  with  benches  to  look  more  or  less 
like  the  rest  of  the  church  before  I  married,  but  was 
still  a  little  raised  and  separated  by  partitions  from 
the  rest  of  the  congregation.  Later  on  it  was  levelled 
and  the  partitions  removed.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  "  comfort,"  and  apart  from  all  other  considerations, 
I  do  think  that  the  square  "  Squire's  Pew  " — as  it 
still  exists  at  Stoneleigh — where  the  occupants  sit 
facing  each  other — is  not  an  ideal  arrangement. 

At  Broughton  Castle — the  old  Saye  and  Sele  home — 
one  of  the  bedrooms  had  a  little  window  from  which 
you  could  look  down  into  the  chapel  belonging  to  the 
house  without  the  effort  of  descending.  Once  when  we 
stayed  there  and  my  mother  was  not  dressed  in  time 
for  Morning  Prayers  she  adopted  this  method  of  sharing 
in  the  family  devotions. 

Broughton  Castle,  and  Lord  North's  place,  Wroxton 
Abbey  (now  for  sale)  are  both  near  Banbury,  which 
is  about  thirteen  miles  from  Middleton — nothing  in 
the  days  of  motors,  but  a  more  serious  consideration 
when  visits  had  to  be  made  with  horses. 

Mr.  Cecil  Bourke  was  clergyman  at  Middleton  when 
I  married  and  had  two  very  nice  sisters,  but  he  migrated 
to  Reading  about  two  years  later,  and  was  succeeded 
by  the  Rev.  W.  H.  Draper,  who  has  been  there  ever 
since.  He  is  an  excellent  man  who  has  had  a  good  wife 
and  eleven  children.  Mrs.  Draper  died  lately,  to  the 
sorrow  of  her  many   friends.     Some   of   the   children 


LIFE   AT   MTDDLETON  77 

have  also  gone,  but  others  are  doing  good  work  in 
various  parts  of  the  Empire.  Old  Lord  Strathnairn, 
of  Mutiny  fame,  was  once  staying  with  us  at  Middleton. 
He  was  extremely  deaf  and  apt  to  be  two  or  three 
periods  behind  in  the  conversation.  Someone  men- 
tioned leprosy  and  its  causes  at  dinner,  and  after  two 
or  three  remarks  that  subject  was  dropped,  and  another 
took  its  place,  in  which  connection  I  observed  that  our 
clerg}'man's  wife  had  eleven  children.  Lord  Strath- 
nairn, with  his  mind  still  on  "  leprousy,''  turned  to  me 
and  in  his  usual  courteous  manner  remarked,  "It  is 
not  catching,  I  believe  ?  " 

Among  other  neighbours  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Hibbert 
at  Bucknell  Manor,  who  had  six  well-behaved  little 
daughters  whom,  though  they  treated  them  kindly, 
they  regarded  as  quite  secondary  to  their  only  son. 
On  the  other  hand,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dewar  at  Cotmore 
were  perfectly  good  to  their  four  sons,  but  the  only 
daughter  distinctly  ruled  the  roost.  Moral :  if  a  boy 
baby  has  any  choice  he  had  better  select  a  family 
of  sisters  in  which  to  be  born,  and  the  contrary  advice 
should  be  tendered  to  a  female  infant. 

To  return  to  our  own  affairs.  The  little  girl  whom 
we  lost  in  April  1874  was  replaced,  to  our  great  pleasure, 
by  another  little  daughter  born  at  Middleton,  October 
8th,  1875,  and  christened  Margaret  like  the  baby  who 
lay  beneath  a  white  marble  cross  in  the  churchyard. 
The  new  little  Margaret  became  and  has  remained  a 
constant  treasure.  Villiers'  first  words  were  "  Hammer, 
hammer,"  which  he  picked  up  from  hearing  the  constant 
hammering  at  the  tank  in  the  new  water-tower.  He 
was  very  pleased  with  his  sister,  but  a  trifle  jealous 
of  the  attentions  paid  her  by  his  nurse.  A  rather  quaint 
incidont  took  place  at  the  baby's  christening.     When 


78  EARLY   MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

Villiers  was  born,  old  Lord  Bathurst,  then  aged  eighty- 
two,  asked  to  come  and  see  him  as  he  had  known  my 
husband's  great -grandmother  Frances,  Lady  Jersey 
(the  admired  of  George  IV) ,  and  wanted  to  see  the  fifth 
generation.  We  asked  him  to  stay  at  Middleton  for 
the  little  girl's  christening,  and  after  dinner  to  propose 
the  baby's  health. 

He  asked  her  name,  and  when  I  told  him  "  Mar- 
garet "  he  murmured,  "  What  memories  that  brings 
back  !  "  and  fell  into  a  reverie.  When  he  rose  for  the 
toast  he  confided  to  the  family  that  her  great-grand- 
mother on  my  side — Margarette,  Lady  Leigh — had  been 
his  first  love  and  repeated,  "  Maggie  Willes,  Maggie 
Willes,  how  I  remember  her  walking  down  the  streets 
of  Cirencester !  "  He  was  a  wonderful  man  for  falling 
in  love — even  when  he  was  quite  old  he  was  always 
fascinated  by  the  youngest  available  girl — but  he  died 
unmarried.  Perhaps  one  love  drove  out  the  other 
before  either  had  time  to  secure  a  firm  footing  in  his 
heart. 

Lord  Bathurst  told  me  that  when  he  was  a  middle- 
aged  man  and  friend  of  the  family  Sarah  Lady  Jersey 
was  very  anxious  to  secure  Prince  Nicholas  Esterhazy 
for  her  eldest  daughter  Sarah  (a  marriage  which  came 
off  in  due  course).  She  had  asked  him  to  stay  at 
Middleton,  and  it  was  generally  believed  that  if  he 
accepted  the  match  would  be  arranged.  Lord  Bathurst 
in  November  1841  was  riding  into  Oxford  when  he  met 
Lady  Jersey  driving  thence  to  Middleton.  She  put  her 
head  out  of  the  carriage  and  called  to  him,  "  We  have 
got  our  Prince  !  "  At  that  time  the  Queen  was  expect- 
ing her  second  child,  and  Lord  Bathurst,  more  occupied 
with  Her  Majesty's  hopes  than  with  those  of  Lady 
Jersey,  at  once  assumed  that  this  meant  a  Prince  of 


MR.   DISRAELI  79 

Wales,  and  rode  rapidly  on  to  announce  the  joyful 
tidings.  These  were  almost  immediately  verified,  and 
he  gained  credit  for  ver}'  early  intelligence.  He  was  a 
gallant  old  man,  and  despite  his  years  climbed  a  fence 
when  staying  at  Middleton.  He  died  between  two  and 
three  years  later. 

On  a  visit  to  the  Exeters  at  Burghley,  near  Stam- 
ford, we  had  met  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Finch  of  Burley-on-the- 
Hill,  near  Oakham,  and  they  asked  us  to  stay  with 
them  soon  after  little  Margaret's  birth.  I  mention  this 
because  it  was  here  that  I  met  Lady  Galloway,  who 
became  my  great  friend,  and  with  whom  later  on  I 
shared  many  delightful  experiences.  She  was  a  hand- 
some and  fascinating  woman  a  few  months  younger 
than  mvself. 

It  was  in  this  year,  May  18th,  1875,  that  Disraeli 
wrote  to  Jersey  offering  him  the  appointment  of  Lord- 
in-Waiting  to  the  Queen — saying,  "  I  think,  also,  my 
selection  would  be  pleasing  to  Her  Majesty,  as  many 
members  of  your  family  have  been  connected  with  the 
Court. "'  On  May  28th  he  notified  the  Queen's  ap- 
proval. (It  is  rather  quaint  that  the  first  letter  begins 
"  My  dear  Jersey  " — the  second  "  My  dear  Villiers." 
My  husband  was  never  called  "  Villiers,"  but  Disraeli 
knew  his  grandfather  and  father,  who  were  both  so 
called.)  Jersey  used  to  answer  for  Local  Government 
in  the  House  of  Lords.  The  Queen  was  always  very 
kind  to  him,  as  she  had  known  his  grandmother  so  well, 
aiifl  told  me  once  that  Lady  Clementina  had  been  her 
playfellow.  She  was  his  godmother  ;  she  records  it  if 
I  remember  rightly  in  the  Life  of  the  Prince  Consort, 
or  anyhow  in  a  letter  or  Diary  of  the  period,  and  says 
tliere  that  she  became  godmother  as  a  token  of  friend- 
ship   to    Sir    Robert    Peel — his    mother's    father.     She 


80  EARLY   MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

declared  to  us  that  she  had  held  him  in  her  arms  at  his 
christening,  and  of  course  it  was  not  for  us  to  contra- 
dict Her  Majesty  :  but  I  think  that  she  officiated  by 
proxy.  She  gave  him  two  or  three  of  her  books  in 
which  she  wrote  his  name  as  "  Victor  Alexander/'  and 
again  we  accepted  the  nomenclature.  As  a  matter  of 
fact  he  was  "  Victor  Albert  George  "  and  always  called 
"  George  "  in  the  family.  He  had,  however,  the  greatest 
respect  and  affection  for  his  royal  godmother,  and 
valued  her  beautiful  christening  cup.  As  Lord-in- 
Waiting  he  had  to  attend  the  House  of  Lords  when  in 
session,  and  spoke  occasionally — he  always  sat  near 
his  old  friend  Lord  de  Ros,  who  was  a  permanent  Lord- 
in-Waiting. 

I  used  to  go  fairly  often  to  the  House  during  the 
years  which  followed  his  appointment  and  before  we 
went  to  Australia,  and  heard  many  interesting  debates. 
Jersey  and  I  always  considered  the  late  Duke  of  Argyll 
and  the  late  Lord  Cranbrook  as  two  of  the  finest  orators 
in  the  House.  The  Duke  was  really  splendid,  and 
with  his  fine  head  and  hair  thrown  back  he  looked  the 
true  Highland  Chieftain.  Several  much  less  effective 
speakers  would  sometimes  persist  in  addressing  the 
House.  I  remember  Lord  Houghton  exciting  much 
laughter  on  one  occasion  when  he  said  of  some  point 
in  his  speech  "  and  that  reminds  me,"  he  paused  and 
repeated  "  and  that  reminds  me,"  but  the  impromptu 
would  not  spring  forth  till  he  shook  his  head  and  pulled 
a  slip  of  paper,  on  which  it  was  carefully  written,  out 
of  his  waistcoat  pocket. 

I  was  told,  though  I  was  not  present,  of  a  house- 
party  of  which  the  Duke  of  Argyll  and  Lord  Houghton 
both  formed  part.  One  evening — Sunday  evening,  I 
believe — Lord  Houghton  offered  to  read  to  the  assembled 


FROUl^E   AND   KINGSLEY  81 

company  Fronde's  account  of  the  "  Pilgrimage  of 
Grace  "  in  his  History  of  England.  Most  of  them  seem 
to  have  submitted  more  or  less  cheerfully,  but  the 
Duke,  becoming  bored,  retired  into  the  backgromid 
with  a  book  which  he  had  taken  from  the  table.  Just 
when  Lord  Houghton  had  reached  the  most  thrilling 
part  and  had  lowered  his  voice  to  give  due  emphasis  to 
the  narrative,  the  Duke,  who  had  completely  forgotten 
what  was  going  on,  threw  down  his  book  and  exclaimed, 
"  What  an  extraordinary  character  of  Nebuchad- 
nezzar !  "  Whereupon  Lord  Houghton  in  turn  threw 
down  Froude  and  in  wrathful  accents  cried,  "  One  nmst 
be  a  Duke  and  a  Cabinet  Minister  to  be  guilty  of  such 
rudeness !  " 

Froude  was  rather  a  friend  of  ours — a  pleasant 
though  slightly  cynical  man.  I  recollect  him  at  Lady 
Derby's  one  evening  saying  that  books  were  objection- 
able ;  all  books  ought  to  be  burnt.  I  ventured  to 
suggest  that  he  had  written  various  books  which  I  had 
read  with  pleasure — why  did  he  write  them  if  such 
was  his  opinion  ?  He  shrugged  his  shoulders  and 
remarked,  "  II  faut  vivre."  When  Lady  Derby  told 
this  afterwards  to  Lord  Derby  he  said  that  I  ought 
to  have  given  the  classic  reply,  "  Je  n'en  vois  pas  la 
nece8sit<2,"  but  perhaps  this  would  have  been  going  a 
little  far. 

Froude  and  Kingsley  were  brothers-in-law,  having 
married  two  Misses  Grenfell.  On  one  occasion  the 
former  was  giving  a  Rectorial  Address  at  St.  Andrews 
and  remarked  on  the  untrustworthiness  of  clerical 
statements.  About  the  same  time  Kingsley  gave  a 
discourse  at  Cambridge  in  which  he  quoted  a  para- 
dox of  Walpole's  to  the  effect  that  whatever  else 
is  true,    history    is    not.      Some    epigrammists    tliere- 


82  EARLY    MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

upon   perpetrated  the  following  lines.     I  quote  from 
memory  : 

"  Froude  informs  the  Scottish  youth 
Parsons  seldom  speak  the  truth  ; 
While  at  Cambridge  Kingsley  cries 
'  History  is  a  pack  of  lies  ! ' 
Whence  these  judgments  so  malign  ? 
A  little  thought  will  solve  the  mystery. 
For  Froude  thinks  Kingsley  a  divine 
And  Kingsley  goes  to  Froude  for  history." 

The  Galloways  when  we  first  made  their  acquaintance 
lived  at  17  Upper  Grosvenor  Street.  In  1875  we 
occupied  17a  Great  Cumberland  Street — and  in  1876 
a  nice  house  belonging  to  Mr.  Bassett  in  Charles  Street 
— but  in  1877  we  bought  3  Great  Stanhope  Street, 
being  rather  tired  of  taking  houses  for  the  season.  My 
second  (surviving)  daughter  Mary  was  born  here  on 
May  26th — a  beautiful  baby,  god-daughter  to  Lady 
Galloway  and  Julia  Wombwell.  My  third  and  youngest 
daughter,  Beatrice,  was  born  at  Folkestone  October  12th, 
1880,  and  the  family  was  completed  three  years  later 
by  Arthur,  born  November  24th,  1883,  to  our  great 
joy,  as  it  endowed  us  with  a  second  son  just  before  his 
elder  brother  went  to  Mr.  Chigneirs  school — Castle- 
mount — at  Dover. 

In  the  same  month,  but  just  before  Arthur  was  born, 
our  tenant  at  Osterley,  the  old  Duchess  of  Cleveland 
(Caroline),  died.  She  was  a  fine  old  lady  and  an  excel- 
lent tenant,  caring  for  the  house  as  if  it  had  been  her 
own.  She  had  most  generous  instincts,  and  once  when 
part  of  the  stonework  round  the  roof  of  Osterley  had 
been  destroyed  by  a  storm  she  wrote  to  my  husband 
saying  that  she  had  placed  a  considerable  sum  with 
his  bankers  to  aid  in  its  restoration.  This  was  imex- 
pected  and  certainly  unsolicited,  which  made  it  all  the 


JAMES   RUSSELL   LOWELL  83 

more  acceptable.  We  should  never  have  thought  of 
disturbing  her  during  her  lifetime,  and  even  when  she 
died  our  first  idea  was  to  relet  the  place  to  a  suitable 
tenant.  1  had  never  lived  there  (though  we  once  slept 
for  a  night  during  the  Duchess's  tenure),  so  had  no 
associations  with,  and  had  never  realised,  the  beauty 
of,  the  place.  However,  after  her  death  we  thought 
we  would  give  one  garden-party  before  reletting,  which 
we  did  in  188-1.  The  day  was  perfect,  and  an  unex- 
pected number  of  guests  arrived.  We  were  fascinated 
with  the  place  and  decided  to  keep  it  as  a  "  suburban  " 
home  instead  of  letting,  and  it  became  the  joy  of  my 
life  and  a  great  pleasure  to  my  husband. 

I  will  speak  of  some  of  our  guests  later  on,  but  I 
must  first  mention  some  of  those  whom  we  knew  at 
Great  Stanhope  Street  and  Middleton  during  the 
earlier  years  of  our  married  life.  One  of  our  great 
friends  was  the  American  Minister  Mr.  Lowell.  Looking 
through  some  of  his  letters,  I  recall  his  perfect  charm  of 
manner  in  speaking  and  in  writing.  The  simplest 
occurrence,  such  as  changing  the  date  of  a  dinner- 
party in  1882,  gave  him  the  opportunity  of  words  which 
might  have  befitted  a  courtier  of  old  days : 

"  Her  Majesty — long  life  to  her — has  gone  and  ap- 
pointed Saturday,  June  3rd,  to  be  born  on.  After 
sixty- three  years  to  learn  wisdom  in,  she  can  do  nothing 
better  than  take  my  Saturday  away  from  me — for  I 
must  go  to  drink  her  health  at  the  Foreign  Ofiice  !  'Tis 
enough  to  make  a  democrat  of  any  Tory  that  ever  was 
except  you.  I  have  moved  on  my  poor  little  dijiner 
to  5th.  1  can  make  no  other  combination  in  the  near 
future,  what  with  Her  Majesty's  engagements  and 
mine,  but  that.  Can  you  come  then  ?  Or  is  my  table 
to  lose  its  pearl  '.  If  you  can't,  I  shall  make  another 
specially  for  you." 


84  EARLY   MARRIED    LIFE  [oh.  iv 

Before  I  knew  Mr.  Lowell  personally  I  was  introduced 
to  liis  works  by  Mr.  Tom  Hughes  ("  Tom  Brown  "  of 
the  "  Schooldays  ")  who  stayed  with  us  at  Middleton  at 
the  beginning  of  1880  and  gave  me  a  copy  of  Lowell's 
poems  carefully  marked  with  those  he  preferred.  Four 
years  later  in  August  Lowell  stayed  with  us  there.  It 
was  a  real  hot  summer,  and  he  wrote  into  Hughes' 
gift  these  verses  which  certainly  make  the  volume 
doubly  precious  : 

"  Turbid  from  Loudon's  noise  and  smoke, 
Here  found  I  air  and  quiet  too, 
Air  filtered  through  the  beech  and  oak, 
Quiet  that  nothing  harsher  broke 
Than  stockdoves'  meditative  coo. 

"  So  I  turn  Tory  for  the  nonce 
And  find  the  Radical  a  bore 
Who  cannot  see  (thick-witted  dunce  !) 
That  what  was  good  for  people  once 
Must  be  as  good  for  evermore. 

"  Sun,  sink  no  deeper  down  the  sky, 
Natiure,  ne'er  leave  this  summer  mood. 
Breeze,  loiter  thus  for  ever  by, 
Stir  the  dead  leaf  or  let  it  lie. 
Since  I  am  happy,  all  is  good  !  " 

This  poem  was  afterwards  republished  under  the  title 
"  The  Optimist "  in  a  collection  called  Heartsease  and 
Rue.  Lowell  added  four  additional  stanzas  between 
the  first  and  the  last  two,  elaborating  the  description 
and  the  underlying  idea.  I  think,  however,  that  the 
three  original  ones  are  the  best,  particularly  the  gentle 
hit  at  the  "  Tory  " — with  whom  he  loved  to  identify 
me.  The  "  stockdoves  "  were  the  woodpigeons  whose 
cooing  on  our  lawn  soothed  and  delighted  him.  Mr. 
Hughes  told  me  that  he  had  first  made  Mr.  Lowell's 
acquaintance  by  correspondence,  having  written  to  him 
to  express  his  admiration  of  one  of  his  works.     I  have 


T.    HUGHES   AND   J.    R.    LOWELL  85 

just  discovered  that  in  an  Introduction  to  his  Collected 
Works  published  1891  Hughes  says  that  Triibner  asked 
him  in  1859  to  write  a  preface  to  the  English  edition  of 
the  Biglow  Papers  which  gave  him  the  long-desired 
opportunity  of  writing  to  the  author.  He  also  told  me 
— which  he  also  describes  in  the  Introduction — how 
nervous  he  was  when  about  at  last  to  meet  his  unknown 
friend  lest  he  should  not  come  up  to  the  ideal  which  he 
had  formed,  and  how  overjoyed  he  was  to  find  him  even 
more  delightful  than  his  letters.  In  a  fit  of  generosity 
Hughes,  quite  unasked,  gave  me  a  very  interesting 
letter  which  Lowell  wrote  him  on  his  appointment  to 
England  in  1880.  It  is  a  long  letter,  some  of  it  dealing 
with  private  matters,  but  one  passage  may  be  trans- 
cribed : 

"  I  have  been  rather  amused  with  some  of  the  com- 
ments of  your  press  that  have  been  sent  me.  They 
almost  seem  to  think  I  shall  come  in  a  hostile  spirit, 
because  I  have  commented  sharply  on  the  pretension 
and  incompetence  of  one  or  two  British  bookmakers  ! 
It  is  also  more  than  hinted  that  I  said  bitter  things 
about  England  during  our  war.  Well,  I  hope  none  of 
my  commentators  will  ever  have  as  good  reason  to  be 
bitter.  It  is  only  Englishmen  who  have  the  happy 
privilege  of  speaking  frankly  about  their  neighbours, 
and  only  they  who  are  never  satisfied  uidess  an  outsider 
likes  England  better  than  his  own  country.  Thank  God 
I  have  spoken  my  mind  at  home  too,  when  it  would 
have  been  far  more  comfortable  to  hold  my  tougue. 
Had  I  felt  less  kindly  toward  England,  perhaps  I 
shouldn't  have  been  so  bitter,  if  bitter  1  was." 

Mr.  Hughes  records,  again  in  the  Introduction,  that 
Lowell  said  in  one  of  his  letters  during  the  American 
War,  "  We  are  all  as  cross  as  terriers  with  ycjur  kind 
of  neutrality  " — but  he  rejoices  in  the  gradual  increasing 


86  EARLY   MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

warmtli  of  his  feeling  for  England  as  he  grew  to  know 
her  better  during  the  last  years  of  his  life. 

While  I  knew  him  he  was  always  most  friendly,  and 
it  is  pleasant  to  recall  him  sitting  in  the  garden  at 
Osterley  on  peaceful  summer  evenings  enjoying  specially 
that  blue  haze  peculiar  to  the  Valley  of  the  Thames 
which  softens  without  obscuring  the  gentle  English 
landscape. 

One  more  letter,  including  a  copy  of  verses,  I  cannot 
resist  copying.  In  July  1887  he  endowed  me  with 
Omar  Khayyam,  and  some  months  later  I  received 
this— dated  "  At  sea,  2nd  November  1887  "  : 

"  Some  verses  have  been  beating  their  wings  against 
the  walls  of  my  brain  ever  since  I  gave  you  the  Omar 
Khayyam.  I  don't  think  they  will  improve  their 
feathers  by  doing  it  longer.  So  I  have  caught  and  caged 
them  on  the  next  leaf  that  you  may  if  you  like  paste 
them  into  the  book.  With  kindest  regards  to  Lord 
Jersey  and  in  the  pleasant  hope  of  seeing  you  again  in 
the  spring. 

Faithfully  yours, 

J.  R.  Lowell." 
"  With  a  copy  of  Omar  Khayyam. 

"  These  pearls  of  thought  in  Persian  gulfs  were  bred, 
Each  softly  lucent  as  a  rounded  moon  : 
The  diver  Omar  plucked  them  from  their  bed, 
Fitzgerald  strung  them  on  an  English  thread. 

"  Fit  rosary  for  a  queen  in  shape  and  hue 
When  Contemplation  tells  her  pensive  beads 
Of  mortal  thoughts  for  ever  old  and  new : 
Fit  for  a  queen  ?     Why,  surely  then,  for  you  ! 

"  The  moral  ?     When  Doubt's  eddies  toss  and  twirl 
Faith's  slender  shallop  'neath  our  reeling  feet, 
Plunge  !   If  you  find  not  peace  beneath  the  whirl. 
Groping,  you  may  at  least  bring  back  a  pearl." 

He  adds  beneath  the  lines :  **  My  pen  has  danced  to 
the  dancing  of  the  ship." 


MR.   GLADSTONE   ON  IMMORTALITY  87 

The  verses  (of  course  not  the  covering  letter)  appeared 
in  Heartsease  and  Rue. 

Mr.  Lowell  stayed  with  us  at  Osterley  in  the  two 
summers  following  his  return.  He  died  in  America 
just  before  we  went  to  Australia. 

We  knew  Robert  Browning  pretty  well,  and  I  re- 
collect one  interesting  conversation  which  I  had  with 
him  on  death  and  inunortality.  Of  the  former  he  had 
the  rather  curious  idea  that  the  soul's  last  sojourn  in 
the  body  was  just  between  the  eyebrows.  He  said  that  he 
had  seen  several  people  die,  and  that  the  last  movement 
was  there.  I  cannot  think  that  a  quiver  of  the  forehead 
proves  it.  For  immortality,  he  said  that  he  had  em- 
bodied his  feelings  in  the  "  Old  Pictures  in  Florence  " 
in  the  lines  ending  "  I  have  had  troubles  enough  for 
one."  No  one,  however,  can  read  his  poems  without 
realising  his  faith  in  the  hereafter. 

How  diverse  are  the  views  of  great  men  on  this 
mystery  !  Lady  Galloway  wrote  to  me  once  from 
Knowsley  of  a  talk  she  had  had  with  Mr.  Gladstone 
which  I  think  worth  recording  in  her  own  words  : 

**  The  theory  of  Mr.  Gladstone's  that  mostly  interested 
me  last  night  was — that  every  soul  was  not  of  necessity 
immortal — that  all  the  Christian  faith  of  the  inmiortality 
of  the  soul  and  resurrection  of  the  body  was  a  new 
doctrine  introduced  and  revealed  by  our  Lord  in  wJiom 
alone,  maybe,  we  receive  i}amortal  life.  TJiis  Ju;  only 
swj(jests,  you  understand — does  not  lay  it  down — but 
1  don't  think  I  have  quite  grasped  his  idea  of  the  mystery 
of  death,  which  as  fur  as  I  can  understand  he  thinks 
Man  would  not  have  been  subject  to  but  for  the  Fall — 
not  tliai  Death  did  not  exist  before  tlie  Fall — but  that 
it  would  have  })een  a  dilTeront  kind  of  thing,  hi  fact 
that  the  connection  between  Sin  and  Death  meant  that 
you  lost  imniortality  thro'  Sin  and  gained  it  thro'  (Jhrist." 


88  EARLY   MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

I  might  as  well  insert  here  part  of  a  letter  from  Edwin 
Arnold,  author  of  The  Light  of  Asia,  which  he  wrote  me 
in  January  1885  after  reading  an  article  which  I  had 
perpetrated  in  The  National  Review  on  Buddhism.  I 
had  not  known  him  previously,  but  he  did  me  the 
honour  to  profess  interest  in  my  crude  efforts  and  to 
regret  what  he  considered  a  misconception  of  Gautama's 
fundamemtal  idea.     He  continues  : 

"  I  remember  more  than  one  passage  which  seemed 
to  show  that  you  considered  Nirvana  to  be  annihila- 
tion ;  and  the  aim  and  summum  honum  of  the  Buddhist 
to  escape  existence  finally  and  utterly.  Permit  me  to 
invite  you  not  to  adopt  this  view  too  decidedly  in  spite 
of  the  vast  authority  of  men  like  Max  Miiller,  Rhys 
David,  and  others.  My  own  studies  (which  I  am  far 
from  ranking  with  theirs,  in  regard  of  industry  and 
learning)  convince  me  that  it  was,  in  every  case,  the 
embodied  life ;  life  as  we  know  it  and  endure  it,  which 
Gautama  desired  to  be  for  ever  done  with.  ...  I 
believe  that  when  St.  Paul  writes  '  the  things  not  seen 
are  eternal,'  he  had  attained  much  such  a  height  of 
insight  and  foresight  as  Buddha  under  the  Bodhi  Tree. 
I  even  fancy  that  when  Professor  Tyndall  lectures  on 
the  light-rays  which  are  invisible  to  our  eyes,  and  the 
cosmical  sounds  which  are  inaudible  to  ears  of  flesh  and 
blood,  he  ap'proaches  by  a  physical  path  the  confines  of 
that  infinite  and  enduring  life  of  which  Orientals  dreamed 
metaphysically. '' 

After  this  Mr.  Arnold — afterwards  Sir  Edwin — became 
numbered  among  our  friends,  and  was  very  kind  in 
giving  us  introductions  when  we  went  to  India,  as  I  will 
record  later. 

Meantime  I  may  mention  a  quaint  bit  of  palmistry  or 
thought-reading  connected  with  him.  We  had  a  friend, 
Augusta  Webb  of  Newstead,  now  Mrs.  Eraser,  who  was 
an  expert  in  this  line.     She  was  calling  on  me  one  day 


THOUGHT-READING  89 

when  I  mentioned  casually  that  I  had  met  Mr.  Arnold, 
whose  Light  of  Asia  she  greatly  admired.  She  expressed 
a  great  wish  to  meet  him,  so  I  said,  "  He  is  coming  to 
dine  this  evening — you  had  better  come  also/'  She 
accepted  with  enthusiasm.  He  sat  next  to  me,  and  to 
please  her  I  put  her  on  his  other  side.  In  the  course  of 
dinner  something  was  said  about  favourite  flowers,  and 
I  exclaimed,  "  Augusta,  tell  Mr.  Arnold  his  favourite 
flower."  She  looked  at  his  hand  and  said  without 
hesitation,  "  I  don't  know  its  name,  but  I  think  it  is  a 
white  flower  rather  like  a  rose  and  with  a  very  strong 
scent."  He  remarked,  astonished,  "  I  wish  I  had 
written  it  down  beforehand  to  show  how  right  you  are. 
It  is  an  Indian  flower."  (I  forget  the  name,  which 
he  said  he  had  mentioned  in  The  Light  of  Asia),  "  white 
and  strong-smelling  and  something  like  a  tuberose." 
It  is  impossible  that  Augusta  could  have  known  before- 
hand. Her  sister  told  me  later  that  she  did  occa- 
sionally perceive  a  person's  thought  and  that  this  was 
one  of  the  instances. 

To  return  to  Thomas  Hughes,  who  originally  gave 
me  Lowell's  poems.  He  was  an  enthusiast  and  most 
conscientious.  On  the  occasion  when,  as  I  said  before, 
he  stayed  at  Middleton  he  promised  to  tell  my  boy 
Villiers — then  six  and  a  half  years  old — a  story.  Hav- 
ing been  prevented  from  doing  so,  he  sent  the  story  by 
post,  carefully  written  out  with  this  charming  letter  : 

•*  Fefjruary  1st,  1880. 

"  My  dear  LirrLE  Man, 

"  I  was  quite  sorry  this  morning  when  you  said 
to  me,  as  we  were  going  away,  *  Ah,  but  you  havo  never 
told  me  about  the  King  of  the  Cats,  as  you  promised.' 
I  was  always  taught  when  I  was  a  little  fellow,  smaller 
than  you,  that  1   must  never  '  run  word,'  even  if  it 


90  EARLY   MARRIED    LIFE  [ch.  iv 

cost  me  my  knife  with  three  blades  and  a  tweezer, 
or  my  ivory  dog-whistle,  which  were  the  two  most 
precious  things  I  had  in  the  world.  And  my  father 
and  mother  not  only  told  me  that  I  must  never  '  run 
word/  for  they  knew  that  boys  are  apt  to  forget  what 
they  are  only  told,  but  they  never  '  ran  word  '  with  me, 
which  was  a  much  surer  way  to  fix  what  they  told  me 
in  my  head  ;  because  boys  find  it  hard  to  forget  what 
they  see  the  old  folk  that  they  love  do  day  by  day. 

"  So  I  have  tried  all  my  long  life  never  to  '  run 
word,'  and  as  I  said  I  would  tell  you  the  story  about 
Rodilardus  the  King  of  the  Cats,  and  as  I  can't  tell  it 
you  by  word  of  mouth  because  you  are  down  there  in 
the  bright  sunshine  at  Middleton,  and  I  am  up  here  in 
foggy  old  London,  I  must  tell  it  you  in  this  way,  though 
I  am  not  sure  that  you  will  be  able  to  make  it  all  out. 
I  know  you  can  read,  for  I  heard  you  read  the  psalm 
at  prayers  this  morning  very  well ;  only  as  Mama  was 
reading  out  of  the  same  book  over  your  shoulder, 
perhaps  you  heard  what  she  said,  and  that  helped  you 
a  little  to  keep  up  with  all  the  rest  of  us.  But  a  boy 
may  be  able  to  read  his  psalms  in  his  prayer  book  and 
yet  not  able  to  read  a  long  piece  of  writing  like  this, 
though  I  am  making  it  as  clear  as  I  can.  So  if  you 
cannot  make  it  all  out  you  must  just  take  it  off  to 
Mama  and  get  her  to  look  over  your  shoulder  and  tell 
you  what  it  is  all  about.  Well  then,  you  know  what  I 
told  you  was,  that  I  used  to  think  that  some  people 
could  get  to  understand  what  cats  said  to  one  another, 
and  to  wish  very  much  that  1  could  make  out  their 
talk  myself.  But  all  this  time  I  have  never  been  able 
to  make  out  a  word  of  it,  and  do  not  now  think  that 
anybody  can.  Only  I  am  quite  sure  that  any  boy  or 
man  who  is  fond  of  cats,  and  tries  to  make  out  what 
they  mean,  and  what  they  want,  will  learn  a  great 
many  things  that  will  help  to  make  him  kind  and  wise. 
And  when  you  asked  me  why  I  used  to  think  that  I 
could  learn  cat-talk  I  said  I  would  tell  you  that  story 
about  the  King  of  the  Cats  which  was  told  to  me  when 


TOM  HUGHES   AND  RUGBY,   TENNESSEE       91 

I  was  a  very  little  fellow  about  your  age.     And  so 
here  it  is/' 


The  story  itself  is  a  variant,  very  picturesquely  and 
graphically  told,  of  an  old  folk-tale,  which  I  think 
appears  in  Grinun,  of  a  cat  who,  overhearing  an  account 
given  by  a  human  being  of  the  imposing  funeral  of  one 
of  his  race,  exclaims,  "  Then  I  am  King  of  the  Cats !  " 
and  disappears  up  the  chimney. 

Tom  Hughes,  at  the  time  of  his  visit  to  Middleton, 
was  very  keen  about  the  town  which  he  proposed  to 
found  on  some  kind  of  Christian-socialist  principles,  to 
be  called  "  New  Rugby,"  in  Tennessee.  It  was  to  have 
one  church,  to  be  used  by  the  various  denominations, 
and  to  be  what  is  now  called  **  Pussyfoot."  What  hap- 
pened about  the  church  I  know  not,  but  I  have  heard 
as  regards  the  teetotal  ism  that  drinks  were  buried  by 
traders  just  outside  the  sacred  boundaries  and  dug  up 
secretly  by  the  townsmen.  Anyhow,  I  fear  that  the 
well-meant  project  resulted  in  a  heavy  loss  to  poor 
Hughes.  I  recollect  that  Lord  Galloway's  servant  sug- 
gested that  he  would  like  to  accompany  Mr.  Hughes 
to  the  States — "  and  I  would  valet  you,  sir."  Hughes 
repudiated  all  idea  of  valeting,  but  was  willing  to  accept 
the  man  as  a  comrade.  All  he  got  by  his  democratic 
offer  was  that  the  man  told  the  other  servants  that  Mr. 
Hughes  did  not  understand  real  English  aristocracy. 
Which  reminds  me  of  a  pleasing  definition  given  by  the 
Matron  of  our  Village  Training  School  for  Servants  of 
the  nuK-h-discussed  word  "  gentleman."  She  told  mc 
one  day  that  her  sister  hud  asked  for  one  of  our  girls 
as  servant.  As  we  generally  sent  them  to  rather  superior 
situations,  I  hesitat^Ml,  though  I  did  not  like  to  refuse 
straight   off,    and    asked,    "  What,    is   your    broflipr  in- 


92  EARLY  MARRIED   LIFE  [ch.  iv 

law  ?  ''  "  He  is  a  gentleman,"  was  the  answer.  Ob- 
serving that  I  looked  somewhat  surprised,  the  Matron 
hastened  to  add,  "  You  see,  my  sister  keeps  a  temper- 
ance hotel,  and  in  such  a  case  the  husband  does  not 
work,  only  cleans  the  windows  and  boots  and  so  on." 
Whereby  I  gather  that  not  to  work  for  regular  wages 
is  the  hall-mark  of  a  gentleman !  But  a  girl  was  not 
provided  for  the  place. 

1  believe  that  Henry  James  was  first  introduced  to 
us  by  Mr.  Lowell,  and  became  a  frequent  visitor  after- 
wards. He  was  an  intimate  friend  of  my  uncle  the 
Dean  of  Hereford  and  of  his  mother-in-law  Mrs.  Kemble. 

Under  the  name  of  Summersoft  he  gives  a  delightful 
description  of  Osterley  in  his  novel  The  Lesson  of  the 
Master.  "  It  all  went  together  and  spoke  in  one  voice 
— a  rich  English  voice  of  the  early  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century."  The  Gallery  he  calls  "  a  cheerful  upholstered 
avenue  into  the  other  century." 

One  dinner  at  Norfolk  House  lingers  specially  in  my 
memory  ;  it  was  in  the  summer  of  1880  and  was  to 
meet  Dr.  Newman  not  long  after  he  had  been  promoted 
to  the  dignity  of  Cardinal — an  honour  which  many 
people  considered  overdue.  A  large  party  was  assembled 
and  stood  in  a  circle  ready  to  receive  the  new  "  Prince 
of  the  Church,"  who  was  conducted  into  the  room  by 
the  Duke.  As  soon  as  he  entered  a  somewhat 
ancient  lady,  Mrs.  W —  H — ,  who  was  a  convert  to 
"  the  Faith,"  went  forward  and  grovelled  before  him 
on  her  knees,  kissing  his  hand  with  much  effusion,  and 
I  fancy  embarrassing  His  Eminence  considerably.  My 
aunt,  the  Duchess  of  Westminster,  who  was  very 
handsome  but  by  no  means  slim,  was  standing  next  to 
me  and  whispered,  "  Margaret,  shall  we  have  to  do 
that  ?  because  I  should  never  be  able  to  get  up  again  !  " 


CARDINAL  NEWMAN  93 

However,  none  of  the  Roman  Catholics  present  seemed 
to  consider  such  extreme  genuflections  necessary.  I 
think  they  made  some  reasonable  kind  of  curtsy  as  he 
was  taken  round,  and  then  we  went  in  to  dinner. 
Somewhat  to  my  surprise  and  certainly  to  my  pleasure, 
I  found  myself  seated  next  to  the  Cardinal  and  found 
him  very  attractive.  I  asked  him  whether  the 
**  Gerontius  "  of  the  poem  was  a  real  person,  and  he 
smiled  and  said  "  No,'*  but  I  think  he  was  pleased  that 
I  had  read  it.  I  never  met  him  again,  but  in  October 
1882  I  was  greatly  suq^rised  to  receive  a  book  with 
this  charming  letter  written  from  Birmingham  : 

*'  Madam, 

"  1  have  but  one  reason  for  venturing,  as  I  do, 
to  ask  your  Ladyship's  acceptance  of  a  volume  upon 
the  Russian  Church  which  I  am  publishing,  the  work 
of  a  dear  friend  now  no  more.  That  reason  is  the  desire 
I  feel  of  expressing  in  some  way  my  sense  of  your 
kindness  to  me  two  years  ago,  when  1  had  the  honour 
of  meeting  you  at  Norfolk  House,  and  the  little  proba- 
bility there  is,  at  my  age,  of  my  having  any  other 
opportunity  of  doing  so. 

"  I  trust  you  will  accept  this  explanation,  and  am 
"  Your  Ladyship's  faithful  servant, 

"  John  H.  Cardinal  Newman." 

The  book  was  Notes  of  a  Visit  to  the  Russian  Church 
by  Lord  Selborne's  brother,  Mr.  W.  Palmer,  edited  and 
with  a  Preface  by  Cardinal  Newman.  I  have  never 
Ijeen  able  to  understand  what  he  considered  my  kind- 
ness, as  1  thought  the  Great  Man  bo  kind  to  me,  a  young 
female  heretic. 


CHAPTER    V 

BERLIN   AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF   1887 

I  FIND  it  difficult  to  recall  all  our  foreign  travels.  In 
1876  I  paid — with  my  husband — my  first  visit  to 
Switzerland,  and  three  years  later  we  went  again — this 
time  making  the  doubtful  experiment  of  taking  with 
us  Villiers  aged  six  and  Margaret  (called  Markie)  aged 
three.  Somehow  we  conveyed  these  infants  over 
glaciers  and  mountains  to  various  places,  including 
Zermatt.  We  contrived  a  sort  of  awning  over  a  chaise 
a  porteurs  carried  by  guides — but  they  did  a  good  bit 
of  walking  also.  I  was  really  terrified  on  one  occasion 
when  we  drove  in  a  kind  of  dog- cart  down  precipitous 
roads  along  the  edge  of  precipices.  The  children  sat 
on  either  side  of  me — their  little  legs  too  short  to  reach 
the  floor  of  the  carriage.  I  had  an  arm  round  either, 
feeling — I  believe  justly — that  if  I  let  go  for  a  moment 
the  child  would  be  flung  into  space.  Jersey  was  walk- 
ing— the  maid,  I  suppose,  with  courier  and  luggage — 
anyhow  I  had  sole  responsibility  for  the  time  being. 
Our  courier  was  excellent,  and  no  matter  where  we 
arrived  contrived  to  produce  a  rice-puddmg  on  which 
the  children  insisted.  It  is  unnecessary  to  describe 
the  well-known  scenes  through  which  we  passed. 
Switzerland  impressed  me,  as  it  does  all  travellers, 
with  its  grandeur  and  beauty — but  I  never  loved  it  as 
I  did  the  South  and,  later  on,  the  East. 

Another    winter    we    went — after    Christmas — with 

'J4 


SARAH  BERNHARDT  95 

Villiers  only — to  Biarritz  ;  again  I  did  not  think  it 
Bouthern  enough  in  sky  and  vegetation  to  rival  the 
Riviera,  though  the  pinewoods,  and  great  billows  roll- 
ing in  from  the  sea,  were  attractive.  Soon  afterwards 
we  embarked  in  a  governess — a  clever  young  woman 
called  Ada  Mason,  who  was  recommended  by  Lady 
Derby.  She  had  been  a  show  pupil  at  the  Liverpool 
Girls'  College,  and  before  we  engaged  her  permanently 
she  went  to  complete  her  French  education  in  Paris. 
She  stayed  with  us  till  she  married  in  Australia.  In 
March  1883  we  took  Villiers,  Markie,  and  Miss  Mason 
to  the  Riviera,  Florence,  and  Venice.  I  do  not  know 
that  there  is  anything  exceptional  to  record.  I  observe 
in  a  short  journal  which  I  kept  on  this  occasion  that 
Jersey  and  I  while  in  Paris  went  to  the  Vaudeville  to 
Bee  Sarah  Bernhardt  in  Fedora.  My  comment  is  :  "  She 
acted  wonderfully  but  I  did  not  think  much  of  the 
play.  The  great  coup  was  supposed  to  be  when  the 
hero  gave  her  a  bang  on  the  head,  but  as  that  used  to 
make  the  ladies  faint  he  contented  himself  with  par- 
tially throttling  her  when  we  saw  it."  1  suppose 
French  ladies  are  more  susceptible  than  English.  Once 
in  after  years  I  went  with  a  friend  to  see  the  divine 
Sarah  in  La  Tosca.  I  thought  the  torture  part  horrid 
enough,  but  when  La  Tosca  had  killed  the  wicked 
Ciovernor  my  companion  observed  plaintively,  "  We 
did  not  see  any  blood,"  as  if  it  were  not  sufliciently 
realistic. 

On  this  same  journey  abroad  we  visited,  as  on  various 
other  occasions,  the  He  St.  llonorat  and  Ste  Marguerite, 
a  picnic  party  being  given  on  the  former  by  Lord 
Abercromby  and  Mr.  Savilc.  The  Duchesse  de  Val- 
lombrosa  brought  Marshal  McMahon,  and  special  interest 
was  excited  on  this  occasion  since  Bazaine  had  lately 


96     BERLIN   AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887    [ch.  v 

escaped  from  what  had  been  formerly  the  prison  of 
the  Masque  de  Fer.  Jersey  went  with  some  of  the  party 
to  Ste  Marguerite,  and  Marshal  McMahon  told  Mr. 
Savile  that  he  did  not  connive  at  Bazaine's  escape,  but 
that  Madame  Bazaine  came  to  him  and  asked  when  he 
would  let  her  husband  out.  He  replied,  *'  In  six  years, 
or  six  months,  if  he  is  a  hon  gargon  "  ;  so  she  went  out 
saying,  "  Then  1  shall  know  what  to  do,'"  and  slammed 
the  door  after  her,  with  the  evident  purpose  of  unlock- 
ing another  door,  which  she  accomplished. 

Marshal  McMahon  must  have  been  a  fine  fellow,  but 
hardly  possessed  of  French  readiness  of  speech  if  this 
story  which  I  have  heard  of  him  is  true.  He  wa^  to 
review  the  Cadets  at  a  Military  College — St.  Cyr,  I 
think — and  was  begged  beforehand  to  say  a  special 
word  of  encouragement  to  a  young  Algerian  who  was 
in  training  there.  When  it  came  to  the  point  the  only 
happy  remark  which  occurred  to  him  was,  "  Ah — vous 
etes  le  negre — eh  bien  continuez  le !  " 

From  Cannes  we  went  to  several  other  places,  in- 
cluding Spezzia,  Genoa,  Venice,  and  Florence.  We  saw 
all  the  orthodox  sights  in  each  place  and  at  Florence 
dined  with  Mr.  John  Meyer  and  his  first  wife,  who,  if 
I  remember  rightly,  was  a  Fitzgerald.  He  was  in  the 
exceptional  position  of  having  no  nationality — he  was 
somehow  connected  with  Germany  and  Russia  (not  to 
speak  of  Judaea)  and  had  been  in  South  America  and 
Switzerland.  He  had  been  a  Russian,  but  had  lost 
that  nationality  as  having  been  twenty-five  years 
absent  from  that  country.  He  wanted  to  become  an 
Englishman,  as  his  wife  wanted  to  send  her  boy  to 
school  in  England,  but  it  would  mean  a  lengthened 
residence  or  a  private  Act  of  Parliament  costing  £3,000. 
In  the  end  the  nice  Mrs.  Meyer  who  entertained  us  on 


DEATH   OF   GILBERT   LEIGH  97 

this  occasiou  died,  and  he  bought  an  Italian  Marquiaate 
and  turned  into  an  Italian  !  He  married  as  his  second 
wife  a  beautiful  Miss  Fish,  and  I  last  saw  them  in  their 
charming  villa  near  Florence. 

The  Meyers  were  pleasant  hosts,  and  it  was  at 
the  diimer  which  I  have  mentioned  that  I  first  made 
the  acquaintance  of  a  telephone.  They  had  asked  some 
people  to  come  in  after  dinner,  and  to  show  how  the 
instrument  worked  telephoned  to  invite  an  additional 
guest.  I  never  encountered  a  telephone  at  a  private 
house  in  London  till  long  afterwards. 

Our  younger  children,  Mary  and  Beatrice,  stayed 
durmg  our  absence  at  our  little  Welsh  home — Baglan 
House,  near  Briton  Ferry — a  place  which  all  our  chil- 
dren loved. 

In  1884  a  great  sorrow  befell  our  family.     My  brother 
Gilbert,  then  M.P.   for  South  Warwickshire,   went  in 
August  of  that  year  to  America  with  Mr.  W.  H.  Grenfell 
— now  Lord  Desborough — with  the  object  of  getting 
some  bear-shooting  in  the  Rockies.     Towards  the  end 
of  the  month  they  began  camping — but  the  hunting 
was  not  good,  as  Indians  had  previously  driven  the 
part  of  the  country  which  they  visited  with  the  view 
of  getting  game  for  their  side.     Mr.  Grenf ell's  journal 
records  frost  at  the  end  of  August  and  heavy  snow  on 
the  night  of  September  1st.     On  September  Tith  they 
pitched  a  camp  in  the  Big  Horn  Mountains  on  a  charm- 
ing spot  close  to  a  clear,  rocky  river  with  trees  and 
high   walls   on   either   side.     On   Sunday   the   14th,   a 
boiling  hot  day,  they  had  an  hour's  wash  in  the  river, 
and   after   luncheon   Gillie   started   oil   down   the   Ten 
Sleeper  canon  alone  on  his  horse — he  was  never  seen 
alive  again.     For  a  whole  week  Mr.  Grenfell  and  the 
three  men  whom  they  had  witli  them  searched  in  every 


98      BERLIN    AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887   [ch.  v 

possible  direction,  and  at  last,  on  the  21st,  they  found 
my  brother  lying  dead  at  the  foot  of  a  precipice  from 
which  he  had  evidently  fallen  and  been  instantaneously 
killed — "  a  terrible  way,"  writes  Mr.  Grenfell,  "  to  find 
a  friend  who  had  endeared  himself  to  all — always 
cheery  and  ready  to  make  the  best  of  everything — 
nothing  put  him  out " — "  his  simplicity,  absence  of 
self-assertion,  and  quaint  humour  made  him  a  general 
favourite — whatever  happened  he  never  complained 
and  did  not  know  what  fear  was." 

The  news  did  not  reach  England  till  some  three  days 
later,  and  it  is  impossible  to  dwell  on  the  terrible 
sorrow  of  all  who  loved  him  so  dearly.  My  brother 
Dudley  was  mercifully  in  the  States  at  the  time  of  the 
fatal  accident,  and  my  uncle  James  Leigh  set  off  at 
once  to  bring  the  body  home ;  but  the  long  wait — till 
October  20th — was  unspeakably  trying  most  of  all  for 
my  poor  parents,  who  were  broken-hearted.  My  mother 
put  a  bunch  of  white  rosebuds  on  his  coffin,  for  when  a 
little  boy  he  had  said  one  day  that  his  "  idea  of  love 
was  a  bunch  of  roses." 

I  will  only  add  her  verses  on  her  firstborn  son  : 

"  He  is  gone,  and  gone  for  ever, 
'  Coming  home  again  '  now  never — 
If  'tis  cold  he  feels  it  not, 
Recks  not  if  'tis  scorching  hot, 
But  by  children  circled  round 
Roams  the  happy  hunting-ground, 
Pure  in  heart  and  face  as  they, 
Gladsome  in  God's  glorious  day. 

"  If  I  see  him  once  again 
Will  he  tell  me  of  his  pain  ? 
Did  he  shout  or  cry  or  call 
When  he  saw  that  he  must  fall  ? 
Feel  one  pang  of  mortal  fear 
When  the  fatal  plunge  was  near  1 


IN   ITALY,    1884  99 

"  Or  to  the  last— to  fear  a  stranger — 
Think  to  triumph  over  danger  ? 

"  I  think  so — on  his  marble  face 
Fright  and  terror  left  no  trace — 
Still — as  if  at  Stoneleigh  sleeping, 
There  he  lay — all  the  weeping 
Broke  in  streams  from  other  eyes 

Far  away. 
But  to  him  come  not  again 
Cold  or  heat  or  griof  or  pain." 

Gilly  was  truly  "  to  fear  a  stranger."  He  had,  as 
Mr.  Grenfell  recounts,  been  six  times  before  to  the 
Rocky  Mountain  country  and  always  had  extraordinary 
adventures — once  he  rode  his  horse  along  a  ledge  till 
he  could  neither  go  forward  nor  turn,  and  had  to  slip 
over  its  tail  and  climb  out,  leaving  the  animal  to  shift 
for  itself.  Two  cowboys  roped  and  got  the  saddle  and 
bridle  off  and  left  the  horse,  wliich  somehow  backed 
out  and  got  down  without  injury. 

Earlier  in  the  year  1884  Jersey,  Lady  Galloway,  and  I 
made  a  pleasant  tour  among  the  Italian  Lakes,  including 
a  run  to  Milan  for  Easter  Sunday,  where  we  heard 
some  of  the  splendid  service  in  the  Cathedral.  We 
took  with  us  Villiers,  his  last  trip  abroad  before  his 
regular  schooldays.  He  had  attended  Miss  Woodman's 
classes  during  two  or  three  London  seasons,  and  had 
had  a  visiting  tutor  from  Oxford — Mr.  Angel  Smith — 
for  the  past  year  or  so  at  Middleton  ;  but  on  May  1st, 
after  our  return  from  the  Lakes,  he  went  to  Mr.  Chig- 
nell's,  Castlemount,  Dover,  where  he  remained  till  he 
went  to  Eton  three  years  later.  He  had  an  unvaryingly 
good  record  both  for  the  lessons  and  conduct  while  at 
Castlemount. 

1  have  no  special  recollection  of  the  two  following 
years,  so  pass  on  to  1887.     That  winter  Lady  (JalKnvay 


100    BERLIN    AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887  [ch.  v 

was  in  Russia  and  was  to  stay  in  Berlin  with  the  Ambas- 
sador, Sir  Edward  Malet,  and  his  wife,  Lady  Ermyn- 
trude,  on  her  return.  The  Malets  very  kindly  invited  me 
to  meet  her  and  to  spend  a  few  days  at  the  Embassy. 
I  arrived  there  on  February  21st,  and  found  Lady 
Galloway  and  her  sister-in-law  Lady  Isabel  Stewart 
already  installed.  The  following  afternoon  the  routine 
of  German  court  etiquette — now  a  thing  of  the  past — 
began.  Lady  Ermyntrude  took  us  to  leave  cards  on  the 
various  members  of  the  Corps  Diplomatique  and  then 
proceeded  to  present  Mrs.  Talbot  (now  Lady  Talbot) 
and  myself  to  Grafin  Perponcher,  the  Empress's  Ober- 
meisterin.  She  was  a  funny  old  soul  in  a  wig,  but  re- 
garded as  next  door  to  royalty,  and  it  was  therefore 
correct  to  make  half  a  curtsy  when  introduced  to  her. 
It  was  a  great  thing  to  have  anyone  so  kind,  and  yet  so 
absolutely  aware  of  all  the  shades  of  ceremonial,  as 
Lady  Ermyntrude,  to  steer  us  through  the  Teutonic 
pitfalls. 

In  the  evening  we  were  taken  to  the  Carnival  Court 
Ball,  where  we  stood  in  a  row  behind  Lady  Ermyntrude 
to  be  presented  to  the  Crown  Prince  and  Princess  as 
they  came  round.  The  Diplomatic  people  were  on  the 
left  of  the  royal  seats.  The  Weisser  Saal  was  lighted 
partly  with  candles  and  partly  with  electric  lights  ; 
one  felt  that  either  one  or  the  other  would  have  had  a 
better  effect,  but  no  doubt  that  was  all  rectified  in 
later  years.  We  were  presently  taken  into  an  outer  room 
or  gallery  to  be  presented  to  the  Empress  Augusta,  who 
was  seated  in  a  chair  with  a  sort  of  Stonehenge  of  chairs 
in  front.  She  was  attired  in  what  appeared  to  be  royal 
robes  heavy  with  gold  embroidery  and  gigantic  diamonds, 
but  she  looked  almost  like  a  resurrected  corpse,  except 
that  her  eyes  were  still  large  and  wonderfully  bright 


COURT   BALL  IN   BERLIN  101 

and  glittering  as  if  they  had  little  torches  behind  them. 
I  fancy  that  she  had  some  preparation  of  belladonna 
dropped  into  them  on  these  occasions.  Her  mouth  was 
always  a  little  open,  giving  the  impression  that  she 
wanted  to  speak  but  could  not ;  really,  however,  she 
talked  fast  enough,  and  was  very  gracious  in  sending 
messages  to  my  grandmother  Westminster.  After  our 
presentation  we  had  to  sit  in  Stonehenge  for  a  few 
minutes.  We  had  heard  that  when  the  Empress  was  a 
girl,  her  governess  would  place  her  in  front  of  a  circle  of 
chairs,  and  make  her  go  round  and  address  a  polite 
remark  to  each.  We  recognised  the  utility  of  the 
practice  as  Her  Majesty  made  a  neat  little  sentence  to 
each  of  the  circle  seated  before  her  this  evening.  Sir 
Edward  and  Lady  Ermyntrude  went  home  early,  as 
they  were  in  mourning,  but  when  we  tried  to  go  in  to 
supper  with  the  Embassy  Staff,  we  were  seized  on  by 
Count  Eulenberg  and  told  to  go  into  the  royal  supper- 
room.  The  Crown  Prince  and  Princess  came  and 
talked  to  us  very  kindly,  but  I  could  not  help  thinking 
the  latter  rather  indiscreet,  as  when  I  made  a  futile 
remark  as  to  the  fine  sight  presented  by  the  Palace  she 
returned,  "  A  finer  sight  at  Buckingham  Palace,"  then, 
lowering  her  voice,  "  and  prettier  faces  !  "  True  enough, 
Ijut  a  little  risky  addressed  to  a  stranger  with  possible 
eavesdroppers. 

The  old  Emperor  William  was  not  at  this  ball,  as  he 
was  not  well  enough — which  distressed  him,  as  he 
liked  society  ;  but  two  days  later  we  were  invited  to  a 
small  concert  at  his  own  Palace.  When  we  had  made 
our  curtsies  to  the  Empress  she  desired  that  we  should 
go  round  and  be  presented  to  His  Majesty.  I  had  been 
told  previously  that  he  was  interested  in  the  idea  of 
seeing  me,  as  he  hud  })een  a  great  friend  of  my  grand- 


102    BERLIN    AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887    [ch.  v 

mother  Westminster  and  tliey  used  to  interchange 
presents  on  their  birthdays.  When  we  were  taken  up 
to  him  Grafin  Perponcher  reminded  him  of  Jersey's 
grandmother  and  Lady  Clementina  Villiers,  but  he 
immediately  asked  if  I  were  not  also  related  to  Lady 
Westminster.  When  I  said  that  I  was  her  grand- 
daughter he  asked,  "  Et  etes-vous  tou jours  en  relation 
avec  elle  ?  "  and  on  hearing  that  I  wrote  to  her  charged 
me  with  messages  which  she  was  afterwards  very  pleased 
to  receive. 

During  the  singing  we  sat  round  little  tables  covered 
with  red  velvet  table-covers,  which  seemed  a  funny 
arrangement,  as  it  meant  that  some  of  the  audience  had 
their  backs  to  the  performers.  There  were  five  which — 
joining  each  other — ran  down  the  centre  of  the  room. 
The  Empress  sat  at  the  head  of  the  end  one,  and  the 
Crown  Princess  presided  at  a  round  one  in  the  middle 
of  the  room,  at  which  Lady  Galloway  and  I  were  seated. 
Princess  Victoria  (afterwards  Schaumburg  Lippe)  sat 
between  us — we  found  her  lively,  though  not  pretty. 
When  the  performance  was  over  the  Emperor  came  and 
talked  to  us  again  ;  he  seemed  very  cheerful,  though  he 
put  his  hand  on  the  back  of  a  chair  for,  as  he  said,  "  un 
petit  appui "  \  I  told  him  that  I  had  been  with  the 
crowd  to  see  him  when  he  looked  out  at  the  soldiers  as 
he  did  every  morning.  "  Quoi,  Madame,  vous  avez 
fait  la  curieuse  ?  "  he  said,  and  proceeded  to  tell  us  that 
he  was  now  "  devenu  la  mode,''  though  formerly  ino  one 
came  to  look  at  him.  Finally  some  supper  was  brought 
and  put  on  the  tables  where  we  had  been  sitting. 

The  following  day  we  were  invited  to  breakfast  (or 
rather  12.30  luncheon)  with  the  Crown  Prince  and 
Princess — only  their  three  unmarried  daughters  besides 
Lady  Galloway,  Lady  Isabel,  and  myself.     The  Crown 


THE   CROWN   PRINCE   FREDERICK  103 

Priiice  was  a  most  fascinating  man  and  particularly 
impressed  us  by  his  devotion  to  his  wife,  having  even 
consulted  a  lady  dentist  by  her  desire !  The  three 
Princesses  each  had  in  front  of  her  place  at  table  a 
large  collection  of  little  silver  objects  given  them  on 
their  respective  birthdays.  The  parents  again  reverted 
to  my  grandmother,  and  on  hearing  of  her  inmiense 
number  of  children  and  grandchildren  the  Prince  re- 
marked, "  What  a  number  of  birthday  presents  that 
must  mean  !  " — which  amused  me,  as  with  all  grand- 
mamma's kindness  to  me  personally,  she  was  far  from 
troubling  about  the  identity  of  all  her  grandchildren — 
life  would  not  have  been  long  enough. 

The  Princess  talked  much  of  the  hospitals  at  Berlin, 
and  of  her  trouble  in  introducing  anything  like  decent 
nursing  into  them.  She  said  when  she  first  married  a 
Children's  Ward  would  be  shut  up  at  night  without  any 
nurse  whatever  in  charge,  and  several  children  found 
dead  in  the  morning.  I  believe  she  did  great  things 
for  the  hospitals,  but  fear  that  discretion  was  not  always 
the  better  part  of  her  valour,  and  that  she  more  than 
once  gave  offence  by  comparison  with  the  superior 
method  in  England.  After  luncheon  the  Princesses 
departed  and  the  parents  took  us  through  their  own 
r(X)iiis,  which  were  very  pretty  and  comfortable.  When 
we  reached  her  Studio  tlie  Crown  Princess  did  not  want 
to  take  us  in,  as  she  said  slie  nmst  gooff  to  see  Princess 
William  (the  late  ex-Kaiserin),  but  the  Prince  said, 
"  You  go,  1  shall  take  them  " — for  he  was  determined 
that  we  should  see,  and  duly  admire,  his  wife's  artistic 
talents.  We  saw  the  Crown  Princess  again  in  the 
evening  at  the  theatre,  as  she  sent  for  Lady  (ialloway 
and  me  into  her  box  and  put  Abuy  tliruugli  a  searching 
catechism  about  Russia. 


104    BERLIN    AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887    [ch.  t 

Saturday  26th  till  the  following  Tuesday  we  spent 
at  Dresden,  which  we  greatly  admired.  We  saw  the 
Galleries  and  Museums,  and  attended  a  Wagner  opera — 
Siegfried  ;  but  I  need  not  record  sights  and  sentiments 
shared  with  so  many  other  travellers.  I  had  some 
experience  at  Dresden  of  the  dangers  of  "  Verboten." 
I  ventured  out  for  a  short  time  alone  and  felt  the  risk 
of  being  arrested  at  least  twice — once  for  walking  on 
the  wrong  side  of  the  bridge,  once  for  standing  in  the 
wrong  place  in  the  principal  church.  I  committed  a 
third  crime,  but  forget  its  nature. 

Two  evenings  after  our  return  to  Berlin  we  were 
invited  to  another  royal  concert,  and  on  this  occasion 
I  sat  at  Prince  William's  table  quite  unconscious  that 
he  would  be  hereafter  England's  greatest  foe !  What 
impressed  me  most  about  him  was  the  way  in  which 
he  asked  questions.  Someone  told  him  that  I  held  a 
position  in  the  Primrose  League,  and  he  at  once  wanted 
to  know  all  about  it.  The  impression  left  on  my  mind 
was  that  he  thought  that  it  brought  women  too  promi- 
nently forward. 

Next  day  we  visited  the  various  palaces  at  Potsdam — 
the  Crown  Princess  had  kindly  sent  word  to  her  gardener 
Mr.  Walker,  to  meet  us,  and  he  proved  an  amiable  and 
efficient  guide.  At  the  Stadt  Schloss  Frederick  the 
Great's  bedroom,  with  a  silver  balustrade,  was  being 
prepared  for  the  baptism  of  Prince  William's  fourth 
son.  We  had  been  warned  at  the  Embassy  that  this 
expedition  would  be  one  of  difhculty  if  not  of  danger, 
but  we  accomplished  all  successfully  save  our  return 
from  the  Wild  Park  Station  at  Berlin.  Of  course  this 
was  before  the  days  of  motors,  so  our  journey  to  and 
from  Potsdam  was  by  train,  and  somehow  we  missed 
the  Embassy  carriage  at  the  station.     Innocently  we 


PRINCE   BISMARCK  105 

took  a  fly,  but  at  the  Embassy  it  was  discovered  that 
this  was  a  secojid -class  fly,  which  was  considered  a 
most  disreputable  proceeding.  We  had  not  known 
the  various  categories  of  Berlin  vehicles. 

We  had  one  real  piece  of  good  fortune,  due  to  Herbert 
Bismarck,  whom  we  had  known  in  England  and  met 
several  times  at  Berlin.  His  father  had  not  been 
present  at  the  opening  of  the  Reichstag  which  we 
attended,  so  we  had  asked  Herbert  if  he  were  likely  to 
speak  on  any  following  day,  for  we  were  anxious  to  see 
him  and  he  did  not  often  appear  at  entertainments  or 
such-like  gatherings, 

Herbert  promised  to  let  us  know,  but  he  did  better, 
for  he  coached  his  mother  what  to  do  should  we  call, 
and  Lady  Ermyntrude  took  us  to  see  the  Princess  on 
Saturday  afternoon.  Princess  Bismarck  was  most  graci- 
ous, said  Herbert  had  asked  every  day  if  we  had  called  ; 
he  was  devoted  to  England  and  to  his  collection  of 
photographs  of  English  ladies,  which  he  expected  her  to 
distinguish  one  from  the  other. 

Her  sister,  Countess  Arnim,  was  also  in  the  room. 
When  we  had  been  talking  with  them  for  a  few  minutes 
the  Princess  rang,  and  beckoned  to  the  servant  who 
answered  to  come  close  that  she  might  whisper.  Lady 
Galloway  overheard  her  say  in  German,  "  Tell  the  Prince 
that  the  English  ladies  are  here."  After  a  short  inter- 
val an  inner  door  opened  slowly,  and  the  tall  form  of 
the  Chancellor  appeared.  We  all  jumped  up  as  the 
Princess  announced  "  Mon  Mari."  He  shook  hands 
with  Lady  Ermyntrude,  who  introduced  us  each  in 
turn.  Hearing  that  Lady  Galloway  was  "  la  soeur 
de  Lord  Salisbury,"  he  was  anxious  to  investigate 
whother  she  resembled  liim  in  face,  but  decided  not 
very   miifh,   as  "  Lord   Salisbury  avait  les  traits  tr^s 


106      BERLIN    AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887  [ch.  v 

masculins  and  le  visage  plus  carre/'  which  he  empha- 
sised rather  in  action  than  in  words.  Mary  had  to 
sit  on  one  side  of  him  facing  the  light  in  order  that  he 
might  the  better  make  these  comparisons.  I  was  at 
the  end  of  a  sofa  on  his  other  hand.  Lady  Galloway 
then  remarked  that  he  had  been  very  kind  to  her 
nephew  Lord  Edward  Cecil,  who  had  been  in  Berlin 
in  the  spring  of  the  previous  year.  Curiously  enough, 
though  he  had  had  him  to  dinner,  he  did  not  seem  to 
remember  him,  though  he  perfectly  recollected  Lord 
Cranborne,  who  had  been  with  his  father  at  the  time  of 
the  Congress.  Being  informed  that  Lord  Edward  had 
been  abroad  in  order  to  study  German,  he  asked,  "  Eh 
bien,  a-t-il  eu  de  succes  ?  ""  and  remarked  that  German 
was  a  difficult  language  but  less  so  for  the  English  than 
for  some  other  people,  and  that  while  the  English 
often  spoke  French  more  fluently  they  grasped  the 
German  construction  better  as  being  more  akin  to  their 
own.  Mary  agreed,  saying  we  were  of  the  same  race, 
whereupon  he  politely  thanked  her  for  having  recalled 
and  acknowledged  the  fact.  I  then  remarked  that  it 
had  been  suggested  that  he  wished  to  change  "  les 
caracteres  allemands,''  meaning  the  letters.  He  mis- 
understood me  to  mean  the  characters  of  the  people, 
and  said  that  he  should  hardly  be  capable  of  that,  but 
added  :  "  On  m'accuse  d'avoir  change  une  nation  de 
poetes  en  nation  de  politiques  militaires,  mais  c'est 
parce  que  nous  avons  ete  si  longtemps  I'enclume  qu'il 
fallait  le  faire.  II  faut  toujours  etre  I'enclume  ou  le 
marteau,  maintenant  nous  sommes  le  marteau.  Nous 
etions  Fenclume  jusqu'a  Leipzig  et  Waterloo."  I 
suggested  that  at  Waterloo  "  nous  etions  deux  mar- 
teaux,"  and  he  answered,  bowing,  "  J'espere  que  nous 
les  serons  encore  ensemble.''    Little  did  he  or  I  look 


CONVERSATION   WITH   BISMARCK  107 

on  twenty-seven  years  !     Bismarck  then  asked  for  the 
English  of  "  enclume  " — "  car  je  ne  suis  pas  forgeron," 
and  when   we   told   him  he  said  that  he   only   knew 
"  I'anglais  pour  voyager,  le  russe  pour  la  chasse  at  le 
fran9ais  pour  les  afEaires,"  and  went  on  to  speak  of 
his  son,  who,  as  we  all  agreed,  knew  English  so  well. 
Like  the  Princess,  he  said  that  Count  Herbert  was  much 
attached  to  our  country,  and  added  that  if  he  continued 
to  do  well  and  ''si  je   peux   guider   sa   destinee    j'ai 
I'intention    qu'il    aille    quelque  jour  en  Angleterre  "  : 
meantime  he  thought  that  Count  Hatzfeldt  was  getting 
on  all  right.     Lady  Galloway  said  that  he  was  very 
popular.     Bismarck  considered  that  he  did  better  as 
Ambassador  than  in  affairs  at  home,  as  though  he  could 
work  well  he  lacked  the  power  of  sticking  to  his  work. 
I  then  referred  to  Mr.  Deichmann,  a  country  neighbour 
of  ours  who  had  built  a  house  near  Bicester  and  married 
a  Miss  de  Bunsen,  widow  of  another  German,  who  had 
been  his  friend.     Mr.   (afterwards  Baron)   Deichmann 
and  his  wife  were  undoubtedly  friends  (or  henclimen  ?) 
of  the  Bismarcks,  and  Mr.  Deichmann  was  very  proud 
of  a  tankard  which  the  Prince  had  given  him.     "  He 
gave  me  a  very  good  horse,"  returned  the  Prince,  when 
I  mentioned  this,  and  described  him  as  "  bon  enfant." 
In  the  light  of  after  experience  I  feel  sure  that  the 
Dcichmanns  were  employed  to  report  to  the  Prince  on 
social  matters  in  England  and  particularly  in  diplomatic 
circles.     I   do  not  at  all  mean  that  they  were  anti- 
English,   but  that  they  were  "  utilised."     They  were 
very  intimate  friends  of  the  Miinsters,  and  somehow 
kept  in  with  the  Crown  Princess  and  her  family,  although 
the  Princess  certainly  did  not  love  Bismarck  !     1  well 
recollect  a  dinner  which  (in  years  later  than  that  of  our 
interview  with  the  great  man)  the  Dcichmanns  gave 


108    BERLIN   AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887    [ch.  v 

at  their  house  in  London  to  reconcile  the  French  and 
German  Embassies.  What  had  been  the  exact  cause 
of  friction  I  do  not  know,  but  the  ostensible  one  was  that 
the  then  Ambassadress,  Madame  Waddington,  had  not 
worn  mourning  when  some  German  princelet  died. 
Anyhow,  Madame  Deichmann  had  Madame  Wadding- 
ton to  dinner,  and  Marie  Miinster  to  a  party  afterwards, 
and  they  were  made  to  shake  hands  and  be  friends. 
It  was  clever  of  Madame  Deichmann,  and  she  well 
deserved  the  title  of  Baroness  afterwards  conferred 
upon  her.  However,  I  am  not  altogether  sure  that 
Bismarck  appreciated  the  reference  to  his  friends  on 
this  occasion — he  may  not  have  wished  to  be  thought 
too  intimate !  He  did  not  resent  it  though,  and 
when  we  rose  to  take  leave  gave  Lady  Galloway  many 
messages  for  Lord  Salisbury,  hoping  to  see  him  again 
in  Germany  or  when  he,  Bismarck,  came  to  England, 
which  he  seemed  to  regard  as  quite  on  the  cards.  He 
also  asked  Lady  Ermyntrude  affectionately  after  Sir 
Edward,  whom  he  thought  looking  rather  unwell  when 
he  last  saw  him,  though  quite  himself  again  when  he 
became  excited. 

Just  as  we  were  going  away  the  Prince  asked  if 
we  would  like  to  see  the  room  where  the  Congress 
had  been  held.  Of  course  we  were  delighted,  so  that 
he  took  us  in  and  showed  us  where  they  all  sat.  Lord 
Beaconsfield  on  his  right  hand,  and  Lord  Salisbury, 
as  he  particularly  pointed  out  to  Lady  Galloway,  just 
round  the  corner.  Then  Gortschakofi,  who,  he  said, 
did  not  take  much  part,  next  Schouvaloff,  on  whom 
the  work  fell,  but  he  added  in  English,  "  Lord  Salisbury 
squeezed  him."  And  there,  he  said,  pointing  to  the 
other  side  of  the  table,  "  sat  the  victim  of  the  Congress, 
the  Turk."    So  little  impression  had  the  victim  made 


BISMARCK   AND   LORD   SALISBURY  109 

upon  him  that  he  could  not  even  remember  his  name — 
he  thought,  however,  that  it  was  Mehemet — Mehemet 
something — at  last  Princess  Bismarck  helped  him  out 
— Mehemet  Ali.  I  believe  the  head  Turk  was  Kara- 
theodori  Pasha,  but  presume  that  he  was  a  nonentity ; 
at  all  events  neither  Prince  nor  Princess  Bismarck 
referred  to  him.  Bismarck  rather  apologised  for  the 
bareness  of  the  room,  a  fine,  large,  long  apartment,  and 
wished  that  he  were  equal  to  giving  balls  in  it — this, 
with  Emperor  William's  desire  to  go  to  balls,  gave  a 
cheerful  impression  of  these  old  men. 

Little  did  we  then  realise  what  our  feelings  with 
regard  to  Germany  would  be  twenty-seven  years  later  ! 
Though  I  feel  ashamed  now  of  the  impression  made 
upon  me  by  Prince  Bismarck,  I  cannot  help  recording 
that  I  was  foolish  enough  to  write  some  verses  com- 
paring him  to  Thor,  the  Scandinavian  war-god,  with 
his  hammer  and  anvil,  and  to  add  them  to  my  account 
of  our  interview. 

Aft«r  our  return  to  England  Lord  Salisbury  told  Lady 
Galloway  that  he  should  like  to  see  this  account,  and 
when  I  met  him  again  he  said  to  me  with  great  amuse- 
ment, "  So  you  have  seen  Thor  ?  " 

Prince  Bismarck  had  an  undoubted  admiration  for 
Lord  Salisbury.  Not  long  after  Sir  Edward  JMalet's 
appointment  to  Berlin  poor  Lady  Ermyntrude  had  a 
child  who  did  not  survive  its  birth.  She  was  very 
ill.  Some  little  time  afterwards  her  father,  the  Duke  of 
Bedford,  told  me  that  she  had  been  very  anxious  to  come 
over  to  England  to  be  with  her  parents  for  her  confine- 
ment. This  was  arranged,  and  then  Sir  Edward, 
anxioas  about  her  health,  wanted  to  join  her.  He  did 
not  know  whether  he  could  rightfully  leave  his  dip- 
lomatic  fluties,    but   Bismarck   reassured   him,    telling 


110    BERLIN   AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887    [ch.  v 

him  that  so  long  as  Lord  Salisbury  was  in  power  he 
need  have  no  apprehension  as  to  the  relations  between 
England  and  the  German  Empire. 

I  confess  also  to  having  been  fascinated  by  the  Crown 
Prince — afterwards  the  Emperor  Frederick ;  but  he 
was  not  in  the  least  like  a  Prussian — he  was  like  a  very 
gentle  knight.  Poor  man  !  He  had  already  begun  to 
suffer  from  the  fatal  malady  to  his  throat.  The  last 
time  I  spoke  with  him  he  came  into  the  box  in  which 
we  were  sitting  at  the  theatre  and  said,  "  I  cannot  talk 
to  you  much,  my  throat  is  so  bad." 

The  next  event  which  made  a  great  impression  on 
me  in  common  with  every  other  subject  of  the  British 
Empire  was  the  first  Jubilee  of  Queen  Victoria.  Its 
excitements,  its  glories,  have  been  told  over  and  over 
again,  but  no  one  who  did  not  live  through  it  can  grasp 
the  thrill  which  ran  from  end  to  end  of  the  nation,  and 
no  one  who  did  live  through  it  can  pass  it  on  to  others. 
The  Queen  became  a  tradition  while  yet  alive.  When 
ten  thousand  children  from  the  elementary  schools 
were  entertained  in  Hyde  Park  the  proceedings  con- 
cluded by  the  release  of  a  balloon  bearing  the  word 
"  Victoria."  As  it  ascended  one  child  was  heard  gravely 
explaining  to  another  that  "  that  was  the  Queen  going 
up  to  Heaven."  A  man  (or  woman)  wrote  to  the  paper 
that  in  the  evening  he  had  observed  that  the  sunset 
colours  had  formed  themselves  into  a  distinct  arrange- 
ment of  red,  white,  and  blue  !  I  chanced  the  week 
before  the  Jubilee  celebrations  to  express  to  a  girl  in 
a  shop  a  hope  for  fine  weather.  In  a  tone  of  rebuke 
she  replied,  "  Of  course  it  will  be  fine  :  it  is  for  the 
Queen  !  " — a  sentiment  more  poetically  expressed  by 
the  French  Ambassador  Baron  de  Courcel,  who  said  to 
me  on  one  rather  doubtful  day  in  the  week  preceding 


THANKSGIVING  SERVICE  111 

the  Diamond  Jubilee,  "  Le  bon  Dieu  nettoie  les  cieux 
pour  la  Reiiie  !  "  This  confidence  was  fully  justified  : 
the  weather  was  glorious.  When  traffic  was  stopped 
in  the  main  thoroughfares,  and  all  streets  and  houses 
had  their  usual  dinginess  hidden  in  glowing  decorations, 
London  looked  like  a  fairy  city — a  fitting  regal  back- 
ground for  an  imperial  apotheosis — only  perchance 
excelled  by  the  Diamond  Jubilee  ten  years  later. 
"  Mother's  come  home/'  I  heard  a  stalwart  policeman 
say  on  the  day  when  the  Queen  arrived  in  Buckingham 
Palace.  That  was  just  it — Mother  had  come  back  to 
her  joyous  children. 

The  Dowager  Lady  Amp  thill,  one  of  her  ladies-in- 
waiting,  recounted  an  incident  which  I  do  not  think 
appeared  in  any  of  the  papers.  When  the  royal  train 
was  coming  down  from  Scotland  Lady  Ampthill  awoke 
in  the  earlv  summer  dawn,  and  looked  out  of  the 
carriage  in  which  she  had  been  sleeping.  The  world 
was  not  yet  awake,  but  as  the  train  rushed  through  the 
country  amongst  fields  and  meadows  she  was  astonished 
to  see  numbers  of  men  and  women  standing  apparently 
silently  gazing— simply  waiting  to  see  the  passing  of 
the  Great  Queen  to  her  Jubilee.  Perhaps  the  climax 
was  the  Thanksgiving  Service  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

I  cannot  refrain  from  inserting  here  my  mother's 
lines  describing  the  final  scene  on  that  occasion  : 

"  It  wafl  an  hour  of  triumph,  for  a  nation 

Had  gathfTOfi  round  the  Monarch  of  their  prido  ; 
AH  that  a  jx-oplo  held  of  groat  or  lovoly, 

The  wiw,  the  wo  rid -renowned,  stood  side  by  side. 

"  Landn  famed  in  story  sent  their  KingH  and  chiff tains, 
Islea  scarcely  recke<l  of  came  our  Queon  to  greet, 
PrinccAsos  lent  the  tribute  of  their  beauty. 
And  laid  the  flowers  of  welcome  at  her  fwt. 


112    BERLIN    AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887     [ch.  v 

"  The  organs  pealed,  the  trumpets  gave  their  challenge, 
A  stormy  shout  of  gladness  rent  the  air, 
All  eyes  beamed  welcome,  and  all  hearts  bowed  with  her 
When  low  she  bent  her  royal  head  in  prayer. 

"  She  bent  amid  a  haughty  nation,  knoMdng 
No  sun  e'er  set  upon  its  widespread  towers. 
Though  right  and  good  had  deemed  that  day  the  lion 
To  sheath  its  claws  and  robe  itself  in  flowers. 

"  When  Caesar  kept  high  holiday,  when  Rome 
Called  forth  her  maidens  to  fill  hours  of  ease. 
Pale  warriors  darkly  met  in  bloody  ring 
Or  some  Numidian  giant  died  to  please. 

"  But  in  that  hour  supreme  when  all  eyes  turned 
Upon  the  Queen's  kind  face  and  gestures  mild, 
Bright  tears  unbidden  rose,  stern  bosoms  heaved, 
They  saw  her  stoop — she  stooped  to  kiss  her  child. 

"  Children  and  children's  children  passed  before  her. 
Each  one  '  fair  History's  mark  '  with  stately  grace  ; 
Mother  of  many  nations.  Queen  and  Empress, 
She  drew  them  each  within  her  fond  embrace. 

"  Symbolic  kiss — it  spoke  of  early  birthdays, 

When  little  hearts  had  swelled  with  little  joys. 
It  told  of  kisses  given  and  counsels  tender 
To  graceful  maidens  and  to  princely  boys ; 

"  Of  fond  caresses  given  in  days  of  gladness 

When  Hope  was  young  and  blue  the  skies  above, 
Of  kisses  interchanged  in  hours  of  sorrow 

When  all  seemed  shattered  save  the  bonds  of  love. 

"  And  of  that  hour  of  dutiful  surrender 

Of  hearts  to  Him  who  gives  to  Kings  to  be, 

The  memory  of  those  kisses  grave  and  tender 

Shall  knit  our  hearts,  Victoria,  still  to  thee. 

"  Sceptres  outlasting  long  the  hands  that  held  them.^ 
Thrones  that  have  seated  dynasties  may  faU :. 
Love  never  dies,  his  chain  is  linked  to  heaven^ 
The  Lord,  the  friend,  the  comforter  of  all.. 


TRIALS   OF  COURT   OFFICIALS  113 

*'  Yes  !   of  those  hours  so  joyous  and  so  glorious 
When  the  tall  tires  prolonged  the  festal  day, 
The  memory  of  those  kisses  gently  given 
Shall  be  the  dearest  wo  shall  bear  away." 


On  July  '2nd  I  recollect  Lord  and  Lady  Lathom  com- 
ing to  spend  a  Sunday  with  us  at  Osterley.  He  was 
then  Lord  Chamberlain — and  the  poor  man  seemed 
utterly  exhausted  by  the  strain  of  the  Jubilee  festivities 
tliough  very  liappy  at  their  success.  He  spoke  among 
other  things  of  the  quaint  applications  whicli  lie  had 
received  for  permission  to  attend  the  service  at  the 
Abbey.  Amongst  others  he  had  one  from  a  lady  who 
said  that  if  she  did  not  obtain  a  seat  a  large  class  would 
be  unrepresented — namely,  the  class  of  Old  Maids. 
1  think  she  had  one.  Even  people  like  my  father  not 
connected  with  the  Court  were  pestered  to  "  use  in- 
fluence " — one  lady  wrote  to  him  to  try  and  get  seats 
for  herself  and  her  father,  and  wanted  them  near  the 
preacher  as  "  papa  was  very  deaf." 

Lord  Mount  Edgcumbe — then  Lord  Steward — once 
told  me  of  a  trying  experience  which  he  had  in  con- 
nection with  the  Jubilee.  There  was  a  great  banquet 
at  Windsor  and  he  had  to  order  the  seating  of  the 
guests,  wlio  included  various  foreign  royalties.  As 
Is  well  known  in  dealing  with  foreigners  the  order  in 
which  they  sit  is  far  more  important  than  the  precedence 
in  which  they  walk  into  the  banqueting  hall — if  you 
put  two  princes  or  dignitaries  one  on  the  right,  the 
other  on  the  left  of  the  table,  and  both  are  about  equally 
important,  you  must  take  care  to  put  the  left-hand 
man  one  higher  up  at  the  table  than  the  guest  on  the 
right.  Well,  Lord  Mount  Edgcumbe  had  ordered  this 
feast  of  some  thirty  or  forty  notabilities  or  more  to 
complete  satisfaction,  and   had   gone  to  his  room  to 


114    BERLIN    AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887    [ch.  v 

attire  himself  in  all  the  glory  of  a  High  Steward.  Just 
as  he  was  getting  into  his  breeches  a  message  was 
brought  him  that  two  more  German  princelets  had 
arrived  who  had  to  be  included  in  the  party.  Poor 
man !  he  had  to  hasten  to  complete  his  toilet  and  to 
rush  down  and  rearrange  the  whole  table. 

Talking  of  German  etiquette  (I  don't  know  how  far 
it  survives  the  fall  of  the  HohenzoUerns),  we  had  a 
most  eccentric  Teutonic  specimen  at  Osterley  that 
Jubilee  summer.  Our  kind  hostess  at  Berlin — Lady 
Ermyntrude  Malet — introduced  to  us,  by  letter,  a 
certain  Count  Seierstorpff — so  we  asked  him  to  spend 
Whitsuntide,  We  had  various  other  guests,  including 
the  Kintores  and  Lord  and  Lady  Maud  Wolmer  (now 
Lord  and  Lady  Selborne)  and  Lady  Maud's  sister. 
Lady  Gwendolen  Cecil,  Count  Seierstorpff's  one  form 
of  conversation  was  to  catechise  everybody  as  to  the 
rank  of  the  company — how  far  they  were  "  ebenbiirtig," 
This  culminated  in  his  asking  me  what  Lady  Maud 
would  be  if  Lord  Wolmer  were  to  die  !  I  told  Lord 
Wolmer  this,  and  he  said,  "  Couldn't  you  tell  him  that 
of  two  sisters  in  the  house,  both  equally  eligible,  one 
is  unmarried  !  " 

When  on  Whit-Monday  we  drove  to  see  Ham  House 
he  kept  jumping  up  on  the  seat  of  the  landau  in  which  he 
went  with  some  of  the  party  to  inspect  the  surrounding 
country — spying,  I  suppose — and  when  we  were  sitting 
outside  the  house  after  dinner  he  suddenly  disappeared 
and  was  found  to  have  rushed  wildly  right  round  a 
portion  of  the  grounds.  Many  years  afterwards — 
1913,  I  believe — Jersey  and  I  met  him  again  at  Cannes. 
He  had  grown  into  a  fat,  truculent  Prussian,  and  had 
married  a  pleasant  American  wife.  Poor  people ! 
After  the  War  I  asked  what  became  of  them.     He  and 


THE  NAVAL  REVIEW  115 

liis  two  sons  were  killed  in  the  War — she  had  lost  money 
and  relations  by  the  sinking  of  the  Lusitania — had 
gone  mad  and  was  in  an  asylum.  I  only  wonder  that 
he  had  not  gone  mad,  but  suppose  there  was  method 
in  his  Osterley  madness. 

The  last  festivity  in  which  I  took  part  that  summer 
was  the  Jubilee  Naval  Review  at  Spithead.  Jersey 
went  by  invitation  of  the  P.  and  0.  Company  on  a 
ship  of  their  fleet — the  Rome  if  I  recollect  rightly — 
but  Lady  Galloway  and  I  with  her  stepfather  Lord 
Derby  were  invited  from  Friday,  July  22nd,  for  the 
Keview  on  Saturday  and  to  spend  Sunday  on  board 
the  Mirror,  one  of  Sir  John  Pender's  electric-cable 
ships.  I  never  shared  in  a  more  amusing  party  There 
was  great  confusion  with  the  luggage  at  Waterloo.  I 
think  most  people  lost  something.  Lady  Galloway 
and  I  each  had  two  small  boxes  and  each  lost  one,  but 
it  did  not  matter,  as  we  were  able  to  supplement  each 
other's  remaining  articles.  Sir  William  Russell  the 
journalist  lost  all  his  luggage,  but  it  was  said  that  he 
invariably  did  so,  and  he  did  not  seem  to  mind  at  all. 
Lord  Wolseley,  Lord  Alcester,  Lord  Lymington  (after- 
wards Portsmouth),  and  Sir  William  Des  Voeux,  who  had 
been  Governor  of  Fiji,  Lady  Tweeddale,  and  Countess 
Marie  Miinster  were  among  the  guests,  and  our  kind 
iiost  did  everything  to  make  us  happy.  Tiie  Mirror, 
!ike  the  other  unoihcial  ships,  remained  stationary 
during  the  Review,  but  Lady  Galloway  and  I  persuaded 
tlie  Chairman,  Sir  John  Pender,  and  the  Captain  to  let  a 
boat  take  us  to  tlie  House  of  Lords  ship,  the  Euphrates, 
for  which  we  had  tickets,  and  which  was  to  follow  the 
Queen's  Yacht,  the  Victoria  atid  Albert,  down  tiie  lines. 
It  was  a  magnificent  sight.  1  will  not  attempt  to 
describe  it,  as  it  has  been  far  better  recorded  than  any 


116    BERLIN    AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887    [ch.  v 

words  of  mine  could  achieve.  One  tiling,  however, 
I  may  note.  The  tlien  biggest  and  finest  ships  were 
like  rather  ugly  floating  forts,  and  all,  or  almost  all, 
different  from  each  other.  The  graceful  old  men-of- 
war  with  long  lines  and  pointed  bows  were  considered 
obsolete.  Ten  years  later  when  there  was  a  Review 
for  the  second  Jubilee  all  was  changed  again.  I  do 
not  mean  that  the  naval  architects  had  reverted  to 
the  old  models,  but  the  general  effect  was  a  return  to 
the  old  lines,  and  the  fortress  ships,  almost  sunk  under 
the  sea,  had  disappeared.  Also  they  were  later  on 
built  in  classes,  so  that  their  fittings  were  interchange- 
able and  the  engineers  from  one  ship  could  be  easily 
transferred  to  another. 

To  return  to  our  personal  experiences.  The  rest 
of  the  party  had  remained  on  the  Mirror,  and  I 
rather  fancy  some  of  them  got  a  little  bored,  as 
their  time  was  less  exciting  than  ours.  Anyhow,  one 
or  two  of  the  men  became  exceedingly  anxious  for 
our  return  as  the  dinner-hour  approached,  as  of  course 
the  boat  could  not  fetch  us  off  from  the  Euphrates 
till  all  the  proceedings  were  over  and  the  coast  clear. 
We  were  told  when  we  did  get  back,  which  I  do  not 
think  was  unduly  late,  that  Lord  Alcester  had  expressed 
a  somewhat  uncomplimentary  opinion  of  women, 
emphasised  with  a  capital  D !  However,  everyone 
enjoyed  the  illumination  of  the  ships,  and  particularly 
the  searchlights — then  somewhat  of  a  novelty  and  in 
which  the  Mirror  specially  distinguished  herself.  On 
Sunday  morning  our  Chairman,  Sir  John  Pender,  was 
very  properly  anxious  that  his  guests  should  enjoy 
*'  religious  privileges  "  ;  and  as  everyone  was  content 
that  he  should  have  service  on  board  instead  of  putting 
us  on  shore,  it  was  arranged  accordingly.     There  was 


THE   NAVAL   REVIEW  117 

a  distinct  rivalry  as  to  who  should  officiate.  We  had 
not  a  Bishop  nor  even  one  of  the  lesser  lights  of  the 
Church  among  our  otherwise  representative  company 
— the  Captain  evidently  considered  that  under  these 
circumstances  he  was  the  proper  person  to  read  prayers, 
and  he  produced  prayer-books — I  suppose  that  they 
were  provided  by  the  Electric  Company — and  Sir 
John  distinctly  held  that  as  Chairman  it  was  for  him, 
although  a  Nonconformist,  to  conduct  the  Anglican 
devotions — so  he  began.  The  Captain  determined 
anyhow  to  act  as  prompter.  They  got  on  all  right — 
till  Sir  John,  a  little  man,  stood  up  to  read  the  First 
Lesson.  This  unfortunately  began,  "  And  Satan  stood 
up  " — still  more  unfortunately  it  appeared  that  it  was 
the  wrong  lesson,  and  the  Captain  ruthlessly  pulled 
him  down.  Nevertheless  we  somehow  reached  a 
happy  conclusion. 

In  the  afternoon  some  of  us,  including  Lord  Derby, 
were  ofFered  a  choice  of  cruising  about  among  the  ships 
or  going  over  to  see  Lord  and  Lady  De  La  Warr  at  a 
little  house  they  had  somewhere  on  the  coast  called 
Inchmery.  We  chose  the  latter,  and  were  sent  in  a  tug 
called  the  Undaunted.  I  tried  to  immortalise  the 
expedition  in  a  so-called  poem  of  which  I  only  quote 
a  few  verses — needless  to  say  Lord  Derby  was  the 
hero  : 

"  There  wan  an  Earl — a  noble  Earl 
Who  would  a  sailor  bo, 
And  therefor©  asked  two  kindly  daintui 
To  take  him  out  to  sea.  .  .  . 


"  We've  often  heard  of  Inchmery, 

It«  charma  and  crabtt  are  vaunted  ; 
Bring  round  the  tug  and  cant  her  off, 
That  Bplendid  tug  Undaunted  ! 


118    BERLIN   AND    THE    JUBILEE    OF    1887    [ch.  v 

"  The  splendid  tug  sailed  fast  and  far, 
She  bore  as  fair  a  band 
As  ever  dared  the  heaving  deep 
And  sighed  to  gain  the  land. 

"  She  bore  our  Only  General, 

Whose  prowess  must  be  granted. 
For  he  can  always  go  to  sleep 
And  always  wake  when  wanted. 

"  A  great  Colonial  Governor 

Who  would  have  ruled  the  main, 
Only  emotions  swelled  his  breast 
Which  he  could  not  restrain." 


As  to  the  above,  Lord  Wolseley  explained  to  us  that 
he  shared  a  characteristic  with  Napoleon  and  I  rather 
think  Wellington — namely,  that  he  could  always  go 
to  sleep  in  a  minute  when  he  so  desired,  and  wake 
with  equal  celerity.  He  exemplified  this  by  retiring 
into  the  little  cabin  of  the  launch  when  the  waves 
became  somewhat  restive,  and  fell  fast  asleep  immedi- 
ately, seated  on  a  bench.  The  poor  Colonial  Governor, 
Sir  William  Des  Voeux,  was  less  happy — he  had  to  lie 
prostrate  at  the  bottom  of  the  launch  during  the  short 
transit  until  we  landed. 

The  De  La  Warrs  gave  us  an  excellent  tea,  and 
we  then  strolled  among  the  rocks  on  the  shore,  where 
it  was  supposed  that  the  great  Lord  Derby  wanted  to 
find  crabs  : 

"  The  time  speeds  on — and  now  at  length. 
By  new-born  terrors  haunted. 
Soldier  and  sage  demand  the  tug — 
'  Where  is  the  good  Undaunted '  ? 

"  What  object  meets  their  straining  eyes. 
From  aid  and  rescue  far  ? 
Dauntless  perhaps,  but  useless  quite. 
She's  stranded  on  the  bar. 


KNOWSLEY  119 

The  Captain  smiles,  '  It  wasn't  I,' 

Tho  General's  out  of  reach, 
The  noble  Earl  sits  down  to  play 

Aunt  Sally  on  the  beach." 


It  was  a  fine  sight  to  see  Lord  Derby  (uncle  of  the 
present  Lord  Derby),  regarded  by  most  people  as  an 
exceptionally  solemn  statesman,  sitting  tranquilly  on 
the  shore  throwing  stones — a  sort  of  ducks  and  drakes 
—  into  the  sea — quite  unmoved  by  the  tug's  disaster. 

However,  Lord  De  La  Warr  came  to  the  rescue  with 
a  launch  which  took  us  safely  back  to  the  Mirror — 
minus  Sir  William,  who  had  found  the  tug  quite  bad 
enough  and  declined  to  trust  himself  to  the  launch. 
He  remained  for  the  night  at  Inchmery,  and  I  presume, 
like  the  rest  of  us,  found  his  way  back  to  London  next 
day. 

The  Lord  Derby  of  this  expedition  was  a  great  friend 
of  mine.  His  wife,  formerly  Lady  Salisbury,  was 
Lady  Galloway's  mother,  and  I  originally  met  her 
staying  at  Galloway  House — after  which  she  invited 
us  several  times  to  Knowsley.  I  think  my  first  visit 
there  was  in  1879  when  we  met  the  Leckys — afterwards 
great  friends — and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert  Lowe  (after- 
wards Lord  Sherbrooke).  He  was  an  albino  and  chiefly 
remembered  for  his  abortive  attempt  to  tax  matches, 
giving  rise  to  the  joke  "  ex  luce  lucellum."  She  was,  I 
believe,  a  very  good-natured  woman,  but  it  was  funny 
to  see  the  result  of  her  excessive  flow  of  conversation. 
She  would  begin  with  a  circle  round  her,  and  person 
after  person  would  gradually  steal  away,  leaving  her 
at  length  with  only  one  victim  whom  amiability  or 
good  manners  forbade  to  depart. 

I  well  recollect  that  Lady  Derby  won  my  heart  on 
this  occasion  by  coming  to  the  front  door  to  meet  ua 


120   BERLIN  AND   THE    JUBILEE    OF   1887    [ch.  v 

on  arrival,  under  the  evident  impression  that  as  a 
young  woman  I  might  be  shy  coming  to  a  very  large 
house  among  those,  including  my  host,  who  were  mostly 
strangers.  I  dare  say  that  I  might  have  survived  the 
shock,  but  I  was  much  struck  with  the  courtesy  and 
thoughtfulness  of  a  woman  old  enough  to  be  my 
mother,  and  it  was  one  of  the  first  lessons,  of  which  I 
have  had  many  in  life,  of  the  great  effect  of  the  manner 
in  which  people  originally  receive  their  guests. 

Lady  Derby  was  a  remarkable  woman  in  many  ways. 
Her  heart  was  first  in  her  husband  and  children  and 
then  in  politics.  She  could  never  take  a  lightsome 
view  of  life  and  let  it  carry  her  along.  She  always 
wished  to  manage  and  direct  it.  Her  motives  were 
invariably  excellent,  but  occasionally  things  might 
have  gone  better  had  she  taken  less  trouble  about 
them.  She  did  great  things  for  her  children,  who 
adored  her,  but  even  with  them  it  might  sometimes 
have  been  well  had  their  lives  been  left  a  little  more 
to  their  own  discretion.  She  was  kindness  itself  to  me, 
and  I  used  greatly  to  enjoy  going  to  Derby  House, 
then  in  St.  James's  Square,  where  she  was  always  at 
home  to  her  particular  friends  at  tea-time  and  where 
one  always  had  the  chance  of  meeting  interesting  people. 

To  conclude  my  recollections  of  the  Jubilee.  I  think 
that  it  was  in  the  autumn  of  1887,  and  not  after  the 
Diamond  Jubilee,  that  we  were  staying  with  Lord  and 
Lady  Muncaster  at  their  beautiful  home  in  Cumber- 
land. We  went  to  the  local  church  and  an  Arch- 
deacon was  preaching  for  some  Society  which 
involved  a  plea  for  missionary  effort.  He  spoke  to 
this  effect  (of  course  these  are  not  the  exact  words) : 
"  There  are  black  men,  brown  men,  red  men,  and  yellow 
men  in  the  British  Empire.     We  must  not  despise  any 


APOTHEOSIS   OF  THE   QUEEN  121 

of  them,  for  we  are  all  children  of  one  Great "  I 

naturally  expected  "  Father,"  but  he  added  "  Mother  "  ! 
So  far  had  Queen  Victoria  advanced  in  the  tutelary- 
rank  !  I  was  told  after  her  death  that  the  Tibetans 
had  adopted  her  as  a  protecting  deity — and  that  they 
attributed  the  invasion  of  their  country  to  the  fact 
that  she  had  died,  as  we  had  never  disturbed  them  in 
her  lifetime.  I  record  later  on  how  natives  in  Madras 
did  "  poojah  "  to  her  statue,  offering  coconuts  and  such 
like  tribute — but  the  Indians  also  did  "poojah"  to  a 
steam-engine  when  they  first  saw  it,  so  perhaps  this 
was  not  an  extraordinarv  token  of  reverence. 


CHAPTER   VI 

GHOST   STORIES   AND   TRAVELS   IN   GREECE 

To  go  a  little  back  in  recollections  of  the  eighties  one 
of  our  friends  was  Lord  Cairns,  Lord  Chancellor  in 
1868  and  again  from  1874  till,  I  believe,  his  death. 
Once  when  I  was  sitting  near  him  at  dinner,  we  were 
discussing  ghost  stories.  He  said  that  without  giving 
them  general  credence  he  was  impressed  by  one  which 
had  been  told  him  by  the  wife  of  the  Prussian  Minister, 
Madame  Bernstorff.  (I  think,  though  am  not  sure, 
that  Bernstorff  was  Minister  before  there  was  a  German 
Embassy.)  The  story  was,  briefly,  that  a  man  in 
Berlin  had  a  dream,  thrice  repeated,  in  which  a  comrade 
appeared  to  him  and  said  that  he  had  been  murdered, 
and  that  his  dead  body  was  being  carried  out  of  the 
city,  covered  with  straw,  by  a  certain  gate.  The  man 
roused  himself,  told  the  police,  the  body  was  duly 
found  and  the  murderers  arrested.  "  Well,''  said  1, 
*'  I  think  I  have  read  that  story  in  Dryden,  and  believe 
he  took  it  from  Chaucer."  Sure  enough  I  found  the 
tale  in  "  The  Cock  and  the  Fox,"  Dryden's  modernised 
version  of  Chaucer's  "  Tale  of  the  Nun's  Priest  " — but 
the  amusing  thing  is  that   Dryden  says, 

"  An  ancient  author,  equal  with  the  best, 
Relates  this  tale  of  dreams  among  the  rest " — 

and  a  note  explains  that  the  "  ancient  author  "  was 
Cicero,  from  whose  treatise,  De  Bivinatione,  the  story 
was  taken.  I  sent  the  book  to  Lord  Cairns,  who 
answered    (June   25th,  1883)  :    "  It  is  Madame  Bern- 

122 


LORD   HALSBURY'S   GHOST  STORY  123 

storff's  story  to  the  letter !  It  was  most  kind  of 
you  to  send  it  to  me,  and  it  is  a  fresh  proof  that 
there  is  nothing  new  under  the  sun  !  The  '  catena ' 
of  Cicero  —  Chaucer  —  Dryden  —  BernstorfE  is  very 
amusing." 

Being  a  Lord   Chancellor  does  not  render  a    man 
immune  from  belief  in  ghosts.     I  have  more  than  once 
heard  the  late  Lord  Halsbury  relate  his  adventure  in  this 
line.     As  a  young  man  he  went  to  stay  with  a  friend,  who 
put  him  up  for  the  night.     After  he  had  gone  to  bed,  a 
figure  entered  his  room,  and  taking  it  to  be  his  host  he 
spoke  to  it,  but  it  made  no  reply  and  left  as  silently 
as  it  entered.     At  breakfast  next  morning  he  said  to 
the  master  of  the  house — I  suppose  jokingly — "  If  you 
did  come  in  my  room  last  night   I  think   you  might 
have  answered  when  I  spoke  to  you."     Both  his  hosts 
looked  embarrassed,  and  then  his  friend  said,  "  Well, 
to  tell  you  the  truth,  that  room  is  considered  to  be 
haunted  ;  but  it  is  our  best  room,  and  my  wife  thought 
that  a  hard-headed  lawyer  would  not  be  liable  to  be 
disturbed,    so   we   put   you   there."     Mr.    Gififard,    as, 
Lord  Halsbury  then  was,  left  without  further  incident, 
but  some  time  after,  meeting  his  friend  again,  he  said, 
"  Well,  how's  your  ghost  getting  on  ?  "     "  Oh,  my  dear 
fellow,"  was  the  reply,  "  don't  talk  of  my  ghost.     My 
aunt  came  to  stay  with  me  and  we  put  her  into  that 
room.      The  ghost  came  in  and  tried  to  get  into  her 
bed,  and  she  will  never  speak  to  me  again  !  " 

Lord  Halsbury  also  liad  a  story  about  a  ghost  who 
haunted  his  brother's  house  in  London.  1  think  it 
was  a  little  old  woman,  I  cannot  remember  the  details, 
but  he  certainly  seemed  to  believe  in  it. 

Talking  of  dreams  anil  apparitions,  though  I  cannot 
remember  the  year — probably  iti  the  early  nineties — 


124  GHOST  STORIES  [oh.  vi 

I  recollect  a  rather  amusing  instance  of  the  explosion 
of  one  of  such  stories  when  thoroughly  sifted.  Mr. 
(afterwards  Sir  James)  Knowles  told  me  one  day  that 
the  great  object  of  Myers  and  Gurney  and  the  founders 
of  the  Psychical  Society  was  to  obtain  evidence  of  a 
genuine  apparition  seen  by  two  witnesses  who  would 
both  bear  such  testimony  as  would  stand  cross-examina- 
tion by  a  barrister.  This  was  most  sensible,  as  one 
person  may  honestly  believe  in  an  appearance,  which 
may  be  an  hallucination  caused  by  circumstances, 
and  affected  by  his  own  mental  or  bodily  con- 
dition, but  it  is  hardly  possible  that  such  conditions 
will  enable  two  people  to  see  the  same  spirit  at 
the  same  moment  unless  it  should  actually  appear. 
Mr.  Knowles  said  that  at  last  the  Psychical  Society 
had  found  a  well-authenticated  story  in  which  two 
thoroughly  credible  witnesses  had  seen  the  ghost,  and 
this  was  to  come  out  in  the  forthcoming  number  of 
The  Nineteenth  Century. 

The  witnesses  were  an  English  judge  and  his  wife ; 
to  the  best  of  my  recollection  they  were  Sir  Edmund 
and  Lady  Hornby,  and  the  scene  of  the  apparition 
Shanghai.  Anyhow,  I  perfectly  recollect  the  story, 
which  was  as  follows.  The  judge  had  been  trying 
a  case  during  the  day,  and  he  and  his  wife  had 
retired  to  bed  when  a  man  (European,  not  native) 
entered  their  bedroom.  They  were  much  annoyed  by 
this  intrusion  and  asked  what  he  wanted.  He  replied 
that  he  was  a  reporter  who  had  been  in  court,  but  had 
been  obliged  to  leave  before  the  conclusion  of  the 
trial,  and  was  extremely  anxious  that  the  judge  should 
tell  him  what  the  verdict  was  that  he  might  complete 
the  report  for  his  paper.  The  judge,  to  get  rid  of  him, 
gave  some  answer  that  satisfied  him,   and   the    man 


THE   GHOSTLY   REPORTER  125 

departed.  Next  day  the  judge  learnt  that  a  reporter 
had  been  present  who  was  taken  ill  and  died  before  the 
conclusion  of  the  trial,  and  he  was  convinced  that 
this  was  his  ghostly  visitor.  The  weak  point,  said  Mr. 
Knowles,  was  that  the  narrators  would  not  allow 
themselves  to  be  cross-examined  by  a  barrister.  They 
were  very  old,  and  nervous  about  the  publication  of 
the  story  in  print,  and  the  thought  of  cross-examination 
was  quite  too  much  for  them.  However,  Mr.  Knowles 
and  the  other  investigators  were  fully  satisfied  as  to 
their  bona  fides,  and  the  tale  duly  appeared  in  an 
article  in  the  Review.  No  sooner  was  it  published  than 
various  people  wrote  pointing  out  that  it  was  all  a 
misapprehension.  There  had  been  no  reporter  who  had 
suddenly  died  on  the  occasion  specified,  and  various 
other  details  were  disproved  by  officials  and  others 
who  had  been  at  the  place  at  the  time  when  the  judge 
was  by  way  of  having  presided  over  the  trial  and  seen 
the  ghost.  (Sir  Edmund  was  a  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  China  and  Japan.)  Mr.  Knowles  came  again 
and  said,  "  There  you  see  !  "  The  story  when  sub- 
jected to  the  light  of  publicity  fell  to  the  ground. 
No  doubt  something  had  put  the  germ  into  the  old 
people's  heads  and  it  had  blossomed  in  the  course  of 
years. 

To  return  for  a  minute  to  the  year  1887.  In  that 
year  my  husband  was  appointed  Lord  Lieutenant  of 
Oxfordshire — an  appointment  which  he  held  until  his 
death.  This  is  referred  to  in  the  following  verses  by 
Mr.  Lionel  Ashley,  younger  son  of  the  great  Jiord 
Shaftesbury  and  a  friend  of  my  husband's  and  mine 
of  long  standing.  Lady  Galloway  and  I  used  to  call 
hirn  "  the  Bard,"  as  he  was  fond  of  making  verses  about 
us.      1  insert  these  becau.se  they  give  such  a  luippy  idea 


126  GHOST   STORIES  [ch.  vi 

of  one  of  Osterlev  Saturday- to-Monday  parties.  They 
are  dated  June  19th,  1887,  which  I  see  by  our  Visitors' 
List  was  the  Sunday. 

"  In  a  cot  may  be  foxind,  I  have  heard  the  remark. 
More  delight  than  in  Castles  with  pillars. 
But  we  find  in  the  Palace  of  Osterley  Park, 
All  the  charms  of  suburban  Villiers. 

"  A  Sunday  in  Osterley  Gardens  and  Halls, 
That's  a  day  to  look  on  to  and  after. 
Its  pleasures  my  memory  fondly  recalls, 
And  the  talk,  with  its  wisdom  and  laughter. 

"  In  a  nice  little  church  a  grave  sermon  we  heard, 
Which  reproved  Christianity  flabby, 
And  urged  that  in  heaven  a  place  be  preferred 
To  a  Jubilee  seat  in  the  Abbey. 

"  The  Irish  question,  in  masterly  way, 
Mr.  Lowell  made  easy  and  clear. 
We  must  make  them  content,  without  further  delay, 
But  the  method  was  not  his  affair. 

"  Of  the  Queen's  new  Lieutenant,  with  pleasure  we  hail 
The  appointment,  for  now  'tis  a  mercy. 
From  cold  shoulders  in  Oxfordshire  never  will  fail 
To  protect  her  a  glorious  Jersey. 

"  Then  may  everyone  of  th'  illustrious  Brood 

Learn  to  make  the  same  excellent  stand  his  own, 
That  not  only  the  names,  but  the  qualities  good 

May  descend  to  each  '  Child '  and  each  '  Grandison.'  " 

The  last  line  was  rather  prophetic,  as  there  was  no 
"  Grandison  "  apart  from  the  family's  Irish  title  at  the 
time  of  writing.  My  husband,  as  already  mentioned, 
bore  tlie  name  for  the  three  weeks  between  his  grand- 
father's and  father's  death,  but  our  elder  son  was 
always  Villiers.  Now  his  son  is  Grandison  and  I 
think  bids  fair  to  inherit  the  "  qualities  good  "  of  his 
grandfather — he  could  not  do  better. 


A  JUBILEE   SERMON  127 

The  "  nice  little  church  "  was  that  at  Norwood 
Green,  and  the  sennon,  preached  by  a  rather  eccentric 
Irish  clergyman,  informed  us  that  he  had  been  studying 
history  and  found  that  in  the  ckys  of  George  Ill's 
Jubilee  "  there  was  an  old  king  and  a  ma-ad  king. 
How  would  you  have  liked  that  ?  ''  And  he  continued 
to  tell  us  of  the  death  at  that  period  of  Sir  John  Moore 
conimemorated  by  an  Irish  clergyman  who  "  two 
years  later  was  translated  to  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
for  which  his  Irish  curacy  had  so  well  prepared  him." 

In  addition  to  those  above  named  by  Mr.  Ashley,  we 
had  staying  with  us  Lord  Rowton,  Lord  and  Lady 
Galloway,  Lady  Lytton  and  her  daughter  Betty,  Col. 
Charles  Edgcumbe,  my  sister  Cordelia,  and  my  brother- 
in-law  Reginald  Villiers,  to  whom  my  husband  was 
greatly  attached.  It  is  very  pleasant  to  recall  those 
happy  days,  but  sad  to  think  how  few  that  shared 
them  are  left ! 

I  turn  from  our  Osterley  parties  for  the  time  being 
to  record  a  most  amusing  journey  which  Lady  Galloway 
and  I  made  to  Greece  in  1888.  Lord  Jersey  could  not 
make  up  his  mind  to  start  with  us,  though  we  had 
hopes  (which  proved  vain)  that  he  might  join  us  later. 
Our  families  were  somewhat  excited  on  learning  our 
intention,  as  the  recollection  of  the  Marathon  brigands 
who  captured  poor  Mr.  Vyner  and  the  JMuncasters  still 
coloured  the  popular  ideas  of  Greece. 

Our  husbands,  however,  were — fortunately — confident 
in  our  own  powers  of  taking  care  of  ourselves.  Lord 
Jersey  calmly  remarked,  "  If  you  are  captured  Galloway 
and  I  will  come  with  an  army  to  rescue  you."  Mr. 
Ashley,  less  trustful  of  the  future,  insisted  on  presenting 
each  of  us  with  a  small  revolver  and  l)ox  of  cartridges. 
I  forget  what  Mary  did  with    liers,  but  my  one  object 


128  TRAVELS  IN   GREEOE  [ch.  vi 

was  to  conceal  the  weapon  from  possible  brigands. 
I  regarded  them  rather  like  wasps,  who  are  supposed 
not  to  sting  if  you  let  them  alone,  but  I  was  certain 
that  if  I  tried  to  shoot  I  should  miss,  and  then  they 
might  be  annoyed  and  I  should  sufier.  I  had  to  take 
the  revolver,  but  I  hid  the  cartridges  in  my  luggage 
and  put  the  weapon  where  it  would  not  be  seen. 

We  were  not  absolutely  certain  till  we  reached 
Marseilles  whether  we  should  go  to  Greece  after  all,  or 
to  Algeria  or  elsevrhere,  but  finding  that  we  could  get 
berths  on  a  Messageries  boat  we  ultimately  carried  out 
our  original  intention  though  we  did  not  really  mean  to 
stay  long  in  Athens  or  its  neighbourhood,  and  imagined 
Marathon  (the  scene  of  the  Vyner  tragedy)  to  be  quite 
"  out  of  bounds.'" 

However,  when  on  March  31st  we  reached  the 
Piraeus  early  in  the  morning  we  soon  found  that  we 
were  in  the  happiest  possible  abode.  Our  constant 
friend  and  protector  Sir  Thomas  (now  Lord)  Sanderson 
had  written  from  the  Foreign  Office  to  Mr.  William 
Haggard,  the  British  Charge  d'Afiaires,  to  look  after 
us  in  the  absence  of  the  Minister,  and  it  is  impossible 
to  speak  too  highly  of  his  kindness.  The  Greek  Minis- 
ters were  deeply  impressed  by  the  fact  that  Lady 
Galloway  was  (half)  sister  to  the  English  Prime  Minister, 
Lord  Salisbury,  and  laid  themselves  out  to  make  every- 
thing pleasant  and  delightful.  Greece  was  still  almost 
unknown  to  Cook's  tourists.  I  think  there  was  a 
Cook's  Ofiice,  but  I  do  not  recall  seeing  any  of  his 
clients  about  the  place — anyhow,  not  outside  Athens 
itself.  Mr.  Haggard  met  us  with  a  boat  belonging  to 
the  Harbour  Master's  Office,  and  as  soon  as  we  had 
settled  ourselves  in  the  Hotel  d'Angleterre  at  Athens 
(a  very  good  hotel)  he  began  to  make  all  sorts  of  arrange- 


MARATHON  129 

ments  for  us — so  that  instead  of  three  days  we  stayed 
some  three  weeks  iu  Athens  and  about  a  month  al- 
together in  Greece. 

We  told  Mr.  Haggard  that  our  friends  were  very  much 
afraid  of  our  finding  brigands  at  Marathon,  or  rather 
at  their  finding  us.  He  assured  us  that  after  the 
tragedy — seventeen  years  previously — all  the  brigands 
had  been  killed  and  it  was  perfectly  safe  ;  anyhow, 
he  took  us  to  Marathon  next  day,  and  we  were 
delighted  with  the  scenery  through  which  we  passed 
and  with  the  silent,  desolate  field  where  the  battle 
had  been  waged,  with  wild  flowers  growing  on  the 
hillock  pointed  out  as  the  soldiers'  grave.  Whether 
it  still  keeps  its  impressive  solitude  I  know  not.  It 
is  useless  to  attempt  description  of  Greece,  so  well 
known  to  all  either  from  personal  experience  or  from 
hmidreds  of  accounts  both  in  prose  and  poetry,  but  I 
may  just  say  that  as  my  mother  (who  saw  it  as  a  girl) 
told  me,  the  colours  of  the  mountains  were  like  those  of 
a  dove's  neck,  and  the  clearness  of  the  atmosphere 
such  that  one  felt  as  if  one  could  see  through  the  hills. 

An  evening  or  two  later  we  dined  with  Mr.  Haggard 
and  his  wife,  and  we  were  soon  introduced  to  the  various 
notabilities,  who  from  the  King  and  Queen  downwards 
were  most  kind  and  hospitable.  To  begin  with  their 
Majesties,  who  entertained  us  at  breakfast  at  the  Royal 
Kiosk  at  the  Piraeus,  and  on  more  than  one  subsequent 
occasion  at  dinner,  and  whom  we  met  on  various  other 
occasions  :  King  George  had  much  of  the  charm  of 
his  sister  Queen  Alexandra  and  was  a  distinctly  astute 
monarch.  As  far  as  one  could  judge,  he  really  liked 
his  quaint  little  kingdom,  and  I  remember  his  asserting 
with  energy  that  they  were  a  good  people.  The  Queen, 
a  Russian,  was  a  kindly,  pious  woman  and  apparently 


130  TRAVELS  IN  GREECE  [ch.  vi 

happy  with  her  children,  to  whom  she  was  devoted. 
She  then  had  six,  but  there  were  only  three  at  home 
at  the  time — Princess  Alexandra,  a  pretty,  merry  girl 
just  grown-up,  and  two  younger  children,  Marie  and 
Andrew.  Andrew  was  a  dear  little  boy  about  six  or 
seven  years  old.  When  I  asked  Princess  Marie  about 
his  birthday  she  gravely  replied  that  he  was  too  young 
to  have  a  birthday  ! 

Greece  struck  me  as  a  singularly  "  democratic " 
country  in  the  sense  that  there  was  really  no  "  aris- 
tocracy "  between  the  Sovereign  and  the  people.  What 
in  other  countries  is  commonly  called  "  Society  "  was 
in  Athens  mainly  composed  of  the  Ministers,  the  Corps 
Diplomatique,  and  one  or  two  rich  merchants — par- 
ticularly one  called  Syngros,  who  spent  large  sums  on 
public  works.  One  of  these  was  the  Academy,  a  large 
building  with,  as  far  as  we  could  ascertain,  nothing  as 
yet  inside  it. 

The  Mykense  Museum,  which  contained  many  of 
Schliemann's  antiquities,  discovered  at  Argos  and 
elsewhere,  was  specially  interesting ;  but  the  Greek 
newspaper  which  followed  our  movements  and  for- 
mulated our  opinions  for  us  said  that  when  we  visited 
the  Academy  "  both  ladies  were  enthusiastic  at  the  sight 
of  the  building.  They  confessed  that  they  never 
expected  to  find  in  Athens  such  a  beautiful  building ; 
they  speak  with  enthusiasm  of  Athens  in  general  " — 
but  evidently  the  Academy  (of  which  I  do  not  think  we 
saw  the  inside)  was  "  It.'' 

M.  Tricoupi  was  then  Prime  Minister,  Minister  of 
War,  and  practically  Dictator.  He  was  undoubtedly  a 
man  of  great  ability  and  judgment,  and  was  devoted 
to  England.  We  saw  him  constantly  and  also  his 
sister  Miss  Tricoupi,  a  wonderful  old  lady. 


mSS  TRICOUPI  131 

She  gave  up  her  life   to  promoting  her    Ijiother's 
interests  in  all  respects.     She  appeared  to  me  like  a 
link  with  the  past,  as  she  had  been  with  her  brother 
in  England  early  in  the  century,  and  then  had  taken  to 
Sarah,  Lady  Jersey,  as  a  present  from  King  Otho,  a 
water-colour  drawing  of  a  room  in  his  Palace  w^iich 
always  hung  in  my  bedroom  at  Middleton.     She  also 
knew  my  grandmother  and  my  mother's  elder  sisters. 
Whenever  Parliament  was  sitting  she  sat  at  home  from 
one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  till  any  hour  of  the  night 
to  which  the  debates  happened  to  continue.     Any  of 
her   brother's   supporters,    no   matter   of   what    rank, 
could  come  into  the  large  room  at  one  end  of    which 
she  was  seated.     It  did  not  appear  to  be  necessary  that 
she  should  speak  to  them,  much  less  offer  them  refresh- 
ments.    I  saw  some  men  wlio  appeared  to  be  sailors 
or  fishermen  enter  and  seat  themselves  at  the  far  end 
of  the  room  without  speaking  or  apparently  attracting 
any  particular  notice. 

When  we  went  to  see  her  she  gave  us  tea  and  delicious 
little  roUed-up  pieces  of  bread-and-butter — this  we  were 
assured  was  an  especial  favour.  Naturally  she  could 
not  have  fed  the  whole  of  Athens  daily  !  Poor  woman 
— I  saw  her  again  on  our  subsequent  visit  to  Athens, 
and  after  that  used  to  correspond  for  nearly  thirty  years. 
She  wrote  most  interesting  letters,  though  after  her 
brother's  death  she  lived  mainly  in  retirement.  During 
the  war,  however,  her  feelings  became  somewhat 
embittered  towards  the  Allies ;  she  ultimately  died 
seated  on  her  sofa — she  never  would  give  in  to  in- 
capacity, though  she  must  have  been  very  old. 

One  of  the  most  amusing  members  of  the  Ministry 
was  Thefjtoki,  Minister  of  Marine,  who  went  with  us 
on  more  than  one  excursion  and   was  most  kind    in 


132  TRAVELS   IN   GREECE  [ch.  vi 

poviding  gunboats  for  any  destination  which  had  to 
be  reached  by  sea.  I  rather  think  that  he  was  of 
Venetian  descent — he  had  a  nice,  lively  wife,  and  I 
should  say  that  he  was  not  averse  to  a  little  innocent 
flirtation.  The  bachelor  Tricoupi  embodied  all  his 
ideals  of  woman  in  his  capable  and  devoted  sister,  and 
had  very  advanced  Woman  Suffrage  views,  more 
uncommon  then  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  later. 
He  was  all  in  favour  of  the  appointment  of  women 
not  only  as  Members  of  Parliament,  but  also  as  Ministers 
of  the  Crown.  One  day  he  and  Theotoki  were  taking 
us  somewhere  by  sea  when  a  discussion  arose  on  this 
point.  Either  Lady  Galloway  or  I  wickedly  suggested 
that  women,  admitted  to  the  Cabinet,  might  exercise 
undue  influence  on  the  minds  of  the  male  members. 
Tricoupi  in  perfect  innocence  thereupon  replied  that  it 
might  be  arranged  that  only  married  men  should 
hold  such  office,  apparently  convinced  that  matrimony 
would  make  them  woman-proof  !  I  shall  never  forget 
Theotoki's  expressive  glance. 

Dragoumi,  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs,  was  one  of 
those  who  gave  a  dinner-party  in  our  honour,  on  which 
occasion  he  and  M.  Tricoupi  and  one  of  the  other 
Ministers  concocted  an  excellent  programme  to  enable 
us  to  visit  Nauplia  and  Argos  and  Mykense.  I  wrote 
an  account  of  this  to  my  mother  which  she  kept,  so  I 
may  as  well  transcribe  it,  as  it  gives  an  account  of 
places  which  have  probably  been  much  altered  and 
brought  up  to  date  in  the  present  day  under  the  aus- 
pices of  "  Cook's  Tours.'"    I  told  my  mother  : 

"  We  went  with  Bakhmeteff  the  Russian  and  Haggard 
the  Englishman,  who  each  had  a  Greek  servant,  and 
we  having  a  German  courier  made  up  a  tolerably 
mixed  lot.     You  would  have  laughed  to  see  the  three 


NAUPLIA  133 

Cabinet  Ministers  sitting  in  solemn  conclave  at  a  party 
the  niglit  before  to  settle  all  details  of  our  expedition. 
Tlieotoki,  the  Minister  of  Marine,  had  a  ship  ready  to 
send   to   meet    us   anywhere   we   liked,   and   Tricoupi 
ordered  Dragoumis,  the  Foreign  Minister,  just  to  go 
down  to  send  ofT  some  further  telegram,  which  Drag- 
oumis— a   white-haired  statesman — obediently  trotted 
off  to  do.     The  Czar  of  all  the  Russias  is  not  a  greater 
autocrat  than  Tricoupi.     When  we  arrived  at  Nauplia 
we  found  the  M.P.  for  that  district  waiting  for  us  at 
the  station,  and  he  had  received  orders  to  have  the 
hotel  tlioroughly  cleaned  and  prepared — no  one  had 
been  allowed  to  inhabit  it  for  four  days  before  our 
arrival.     The  landlord,  as  far  as  we  could  make  out, 
was  locked  up  in  a  room,  whence  we  heard  coughs  and 
groans,   presumably    because    he   had   foimd   a   clean 
dwelling  such  a  ghastly  thing,  and  we  were  waited  on 
by  a  very  smart  individual  (who  was  a  Parisian  doctor 
of  law  !)  and  a  small  Greek  girl.     When  we  woke  up 
next  morning  we  found  by  way  of  variety  that    the 
ground  was  covered  with  snow  and  the  coachman  said 
he    could    not    possibly    go    to    Epidaurus — however, 
Bakhmeteff  sent  for  the  Prefect  of  Police,  who  told  him 
he  nmst,  so  with  four  horses  in  front  and  one  trotting 
behind  we  went  a  perfectly  lovely  drive  through  splen- 
did   mountain   country   looking   even   more    beautiful 
from  the  snow  on  the  hills.     Perhaps  you  don't  know 
about   Epidaurus — an   ancient  temple  of    iEsculapius 
is  there,  and  near  it  has   lately  been   discovered  the 
mo.st  perfect  theatre  in  Greece,  which  could  seat  twenty- 
tive  thousand  people.     Hardly  a  stone  is  out  of  place — 
we  went  up  to  the  top  row,  and  an  unfortunate  *  Ephor 
of  Antiquities  '  who  had  also  been  ordered   up    from 
Athens  to  do  us  the  honours  stood  on  the  stage  and 
talked     to    us — one    could     hear    every    word.     The 
Ephor  and  all  the   inhabitants  of   Nauplia  (who    are 
stated  by  the  papers  to  have  received  us  *  with  aiTec- 
tion  ')  thought  us  quite  mad,  not  only  for  going  in  the 
snow,  but  for  going  in  an  open  carriage,  a  circuiustance 
also  carefully  recorded  in  the  papers.     A  Greek  would 
10 


134  TRAVELS   IN   GREECE  [ch.  vi 

liave  shut  up  the  carriage  and  both  windows.  Thursday 
we  returned  (i.e.  to  Athens)  by  Tiryns,  Argos  and  My- 
kense  and  saw  Dr.  Schliemann's  excavations.  The 
Treasury  of  Atreus  is  a  marvellous  thing — a  great 
cone-shaped  chamber  in  a  hill  with  an  inner  chamber 
on  one  side  and  an  enormous  portal  with  projecting 
walls  in  front  with  a  gigantic  slab  over  it.  Metal 
plates  are  said  to  have  been  fastened  on  the  walls  at 
one  time,  but  how  on  earth  the  prehistoric  people 
arranged  these  stones  curving  inwards  so  as  to  keep  in 
place  and  how  they  lifted  some  of  them  at  all  passes 
the  wit  of  man  to  conceive." 

I  continue  in  this  letter  to  explain  how  much  of  all 
this  Dr.  Schliemann  and  his  wife  did  and  did  not  find, 
and  also  to  describe  the  "  Lion  Gate  "  and  the  "  Agora  " 
— but  all  that  is  well-known  and  doubtless  has  been 
further  explored  since  our  visit. 

Among  other  dissipations  at  Athens  we  attended  two 
balls — one  at  M.  Syngros",  the  other  at  the  Austrian 
Legation.  After  the  former  a  correspondent  of  one  of 
the  Greek  papers  wrote : 

"  It  is  a  curious  phenomenon  the  gaiety  with  which 
the  Prime  Minister  is  possessed  this  year.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  he  belongs  to  that  fortunate  circle  which 
sees  with  affection  the  setting  on  each  day  of  the  Car- 
nival. It  appears  that  the  presence  of  the  two  dis- 
tinguished English  ladies  who  are  receiving  the  hos- 
pitality of  our  town  for  some  days  now  has  revived 
in  him  dormant  feelings  and  reminiscences.  M. 
Tricoupi  passed  the  years  of  his  youth  in  England,  and 
it  was  with  the  English  ladies  that  he  enjoyed  the 
sweet  pleasure  of  dancing.  This  evening  he  dances 
also  with  Lady  Jersey.  He  frequently  accompanied 
the  two  distinguished  ladies  to  the  Buffet,  and  with 
very  juvenile  agility  he  hastens  to  find  for  them  their 
sorties  de  bal  with  which  the  noble  English  ladies  are 


THE   LAURIUM   MINES  136 

to  protect  their  delicate  bodies  from  the  indiscretion 
of  that  cold  night." 

M.  Bakhnieteff,  who  was  one  of  our  companions  to 
Nauplia,  was  a  typical  Russian — very  clever,  knowing 
some  eight  or  nine  languages  and  all  about  Greece 
ancient  and  modern.  We  used  to  call  him  the 
"  Courier,"  as  he  was  invaluable  on  our  various  expedi- 
tions, and  he  seemed  to  enjoy  his  honorary  post.  Like 
many  of  his  compatriots  he  had  no  real  religious  belief, 
but  regarded  religious  observance  as  quite  a  good 
thing  for  women  ;  he  told  me  that  a  man  looked  rather 
ridiculous  kneeling,  but  it  was  a  becoming  attitude 
for  women — the  folds  of  her  dress  fell  so  nicely  !  But 
he  assured  me  that  if  I  saw  him  on  duty  in  Russia  I 
should  see  him  kissing  the  ikons  with  all  reverence. 
Poor  man  !  If  still  alive,  I  wonder  what  has  happened 
to  him.  He  lent  me  a  capital  Japanese  costume  for 
the  ball  at  the  Austrian  Legation.  Lady  Galloway  went 
as  "  Dresden  china  "  or  a  "  bouquetUre." 

We  made  a  very  interesting  expedition  to  the  Laurium 
mines,  of  which  I  subsequently  ventured  to  give  an 
account  in  The  National  Review,  but  again  I  think  it 
unnecessary  here  to  describe  a  well-known  enterprise 
— the  revival  in  modern  days  of  lead  mines  worked  in 
classical  times.  We  stayed  the  night  at  the  house  of 
the  manager,  M.  Cordelia.  He  and  his  wife  were  most 
kindly  hosts,  and  everyone  contributed  to  our  enjoy- 
ment. One  little  domestic  detail  anmsed  us.  As  we 
entered  the  substantial  and  comfortable  house  one  of 
us  exclaimed  to  the  other,  "  Oh,  there  is  a  bath  !  " — a 
luxury  not  always  found  in  our  wanderings — but  a 
second  glance  showed  us  that  we  should  have  to  wait 
till  our  return  to  the  hotel  next  day,  as  the  bath  was 
fixed  in  the  well  of  the  staircase  ! 


136  TRAVELS   IN  GREECE  [ch.  vi 

As  for  our  sentiments  about  the  mines  I  cannot  do 
better  than  quote  the  words  of  the  N  ea  Ephemeris, 
one  of  the  papers  which  knew  so  well  what  we  thought 
on  each  occasion  : 

"  The  eminently  English  spirit  of  the  most  ingenious 
and  noble  ladies  saw  in  all  those  works  something  like 
the  positiveness  of  the  spirit  that  prevails  in  their  own 
country  and  were  delighted  at  it  in  Greece  which  they 
loved  so  much.  They  had  no  words  to  express  their 
satisfaction  to  the  true  man  possessed  with  the  spirit 
of  our  century  whom  they  found  in  the  person  of  M. 
Cordelia,  the  director  of  the  works,  and  to  his  worthy 
wife,  who  tendered  to  them  so  many  nice  attentions." 

This,  the  Hora,  and  the  Acropolis,  seem  to  have  been 
the  chief  Government  papers,  and  occasionally  one  of 
them  would  hold  up  to  contempt  a  wretched  Dely- 
annis  organ  which  basely  ignored  the  presence  of  the 
English  Prime  Minister's  sister ! 

I  cannot  record  all  our  excursions  to  Eleusis,  iEgina, 
and  elsewhere,  but  I  will  add  a  few  lines  describing  the 
general  appearance  of  the  people  at  that  time,  also 
written  to  my  mother,  as  probably  they  have  greatly 
changed  in  over  thirty  years  : 

"  The  Peloponnesian  shepherds  look  remarkably 
picturesque,  as  they  wear  large  white  coats  with  peaked 
hoods  over  their  heads.  Further  north  the  coats  are 
more  often  blue — near  Athens  black  and  a  different 
shape — near  Eleusis  the  people  are  Albanians  and  wear 
Albanian  costumes,  which  are  very  bright  with  many 
colours.  Almost  all  the  natives  outside  the  towns 
wear  costumes  which  make  the  villages  look  like  places 
in  plays,  and  every  little  inn  is  a  regular  picture — 
but  the  country  is  very  thinly  populated  and  you  go 
for  miles  without  seeing  a  soul.     It  is  most  beautiful.'' 

One  rather  interesting  character  was  the  Lord  Cham- 


HADJI   PETROS  187 

berlain,  an  old  gentleman  called  Hadji  Petros,  son  of 
the  original  brigand  who  was  one  of  the  husbands  of 
Lady  Ellenborough,  and  is  the  thinly  disguised  "  Hadji 
Stavros "  of  About's  novel  Le  Roi  des  Montagnes. 
Hadji  Petros  was  supposed  to  be  quite  illiterate,  but 
he  coidd  sign  his  name,  as  he  did  so  on  a  case  of  chocolate 
which  he  gave  me.  Anyway,  "  by  royal  permission  " 
he  took  us  over  the  Palace  and  dow^n  into  the  kitchens, 
where  he  showed  us  the  correct  method  of  making 
Turkish  coffee.  His  son,  w^e  were  told,  was  a  very 
smart  young  officer  who  led  cotillons  at  the  Athenian 
balls — two  generations  from  the  original  brigand. 

We  left  Athens  on  February  22nd,  and  were  taken 
by  ship  from  a  port  near  Patras  at  the  end  of  the  Gulf 
of  Corinth  to  Pyrgos.  We  went  in  a  Government  boat 
(the  Salaminia,  I  believe),  and  it  was  arranged  that 
we  should  stay  with  the  Demarch  (Mayor)  and  drive 
thence  to  see  Olympia. 

Fortunately  for  us  M.  Bakhmeteif  accompanied  us, 
and  the  whole  thing  was  very  entertaining.  The 
ofi&cers  on  the  ship  thought  it  too  absurd  that  we  should 
want  to  take  off  even  hand  luggage  for  the  night,  as 
they  said  we  should  find  everything  we  wanted  at  the 
Demarch's.  Sure  enough  we  found  three  elaborate 
sitting-rooms  adorned  with  photographs  and  chairs 
tied  up  with  ribbons,  a  bedroom  with  two  comfortable 
beds  and  plenty  of  pin-cushions,  and  a  dressing-room 
provided  with  tooth-brushes,  sponges,  and  dentifrice 
water,  but  as  means  of  washing  one  small  green  glass 
jug  and  basin  between  us.  However,  we  managed 
to  borrow  two  large,  red  earthenware  pans  from  the 
kitchen  and  got  on  nicely.  The  Demarch  was  more 
than  kind  and  hospitable,  but  as  he  knew  no  language 
save  his  native  Greek  it  was  lucky  that  BakhnuHofT 


138  TRAVELS  IN   GREECE  [ch.  vi 

was  there  to  interpret.  We  landed  too  late  for  Olympia 
that  evening,  so  we  were  taken  down  to  a  most  roman- 
tic and  desolate  spot,  where  Alpheus  runs  into  the  sea 
in  full  view  of  the  Acroceraunian  mountains  where 
"  Arethusa  arose  from  her  couch  of  snows/'  In  addi- 
tion to  one  or  two  officials  we  were  guarded  by  a 
delightful  gendarme  and  were  introduced  to  a  bare- 
legged giant  in  an  oil- skin  coat  whose  duty  was  to  look 
after  the  fish  in  a  kind  of  stew  or  watercourse  running 
out  of  a  lake.  Whether  the  poachers  had  been  busy 
lately  I  know  not,  but  the  efforts  of  the  custodian,  the 
gendarme,  and  the  rest  of  the  party  to  give  us  a  fishing 
entertainment  were  singularly  abortive.  Their  object 
appeared  to  be  to  capture  a  mullet,  and  at  length  a 
dead  one  was  landed  by  the  joint  throwing  of  a  small 
net  and  poking  with  Lady  Galloway's  parasol.  With 
dauntless  courage  they  returned  to  the  charge,  and  when 
another  small  fish  was  seen  the  gendarme  drew  his 
sword  and  vainly  tried  to  stab  it.  Ultimately  the 
professional  fishermen  did  catch  it  and  gave  it  to  the 
gendarme,  who  skipped  about  with  glee.  He  had 
seen  me  put  some  shells  in  my  pocket,  and  apparently 
thought  we  should  like  to  do  the  same  with  the 
fish,  so  proceeded  to  wash  it — and  naturally  let  it 
escape.  Next  day  the  Demarch  told  M.  BakhmetefE 
that  he  had  ordered  an  open  carriage  for  the  ladies 
(knowing  our  lunatic  tendencies)  and  that  he  would 
take  him  (Bakhmeteff)  in  a  shut  one.  BakhmetefE 
came  to  us  in  a  frantic  state  of  mind  and  begged  our 
authority  to  say  that  English  ladies  could  not  possibly 
go  in  a  carriage  alone — so  ultimately  we  three  pro- 
ceeded in  the  open  carriage  with  our  gendarme  on 
the  box,  and  the  Demarch  followed  with  his  servant. 
All  went  well  till  it  began  to  rain,  when  our  gallant 


OLYMPIA— ZANTE  1 39 

defender  jumped  off  the  box  and  into  the  shut  carriage 
with  the  Demarch  and  the  other  man.  They  put  up 
both  windows  and  I  believe  smoked,  only  leaving  a 
little  breathing- hole  in  front.  Doubtless  they  enjoyed 
themselves  immensely — so  did  we. 

As  with  other  well-known  places,  I  omit  all  descrip- 
tion of  Olympia,  reached  by  a  road  concerning  which 
we  decided  that  it  would  be  a  compliment  to  compare 
it  to  a  ploughed  field.  The  drive  took  four  hours  each 
way.  I  dare  say  there  are  hotels  and  chars-a-bancs  if 
not  trams  now,  but  I  am  very  glad  to  recall  Olympia, 
as  we  saw  it  in  the  wilds  with  ruins  of  temples  and  the 
newly  excavated  Gymnasium  undisturbed  by  eager 
tourists.  The  Museum,  containing  the  beautiful  statue 
of  Hermes  with  the  Infant  Bacchus,  had  not  long  been 
erected  on  the  lines  of  a  Greek  temple.  By  way  of 
an  additional  treat  our  hosts  had  roasted  a  lamb  whole 
and  brought  it  into  the  outer  hall  of  the  Museum  on 
a  stick  regardless  of  the  mess  which  it  made.  We  made 
futile  efforts  to  protect  the  floor  with  newspapers,  but 
were  obliged  to  eat  some  of  the  meat. 

From  Pyrgos  we  went  to  the  Island  of  Zante,  where 
we  spent  Sunday.  I  wrote  to  my  mother  that  it  was  a 
most  lovely  place— and  told  her  : 

"  We  took  some  luncheon  up  into  an  olive  grove  on 
the  hills  and  lay  on  cushions  there  in  the  most  perfect 
air  and  warmth  you  can  imagine,  with  birds  singing 
and  the  greenest  grass  thick  with  flowers  just  like  the 
Pre-Raphaelite  pictures.  A  little  higher  up  you  could 
see  the  soa  on  both  sides.  Cephalonia  in  one  distance 
and  the  Acroceraunian  mountains  in  the  other.  This 
island  is,  as  you  know,  famous  for  flowers,  and  the 
nosegays  the  Consul  sent  us  were  so  enormous  that 
after  filling  all  the  vases,  etc.,  we  could  we  had  to  fill  two 
large  foot  pans  and  put  them  on  the  balcony." 


140  TRAVELS   IN   GREECE  [ch.  vi 

Of  Cephalonia,  where  we  spent  a  few  hours  on  our  way 
to  Corfu,  my  chief  recollection  is  of  wild  mountainous 
country.  The  Consul  (or  Vice-Consul)  who  took  us  for 
a  drive  told  us  a  thrilling  tale — as  yet  unconcluded — of 
two  rival  families.  The  father  of  one  married  his 
daughter  to  a  young  man,  whereas  the  other  family 
wanted  her  and  attacked  the  bridal  party  on  the  wedding 
day.  I  forget  exactly  how  many  people  they  killed, 
but  I  think  the  bridegroom  was  among  the  victims,  and 
anyhow  they  carried  of!  the  young  lady  to  the  moun- 
tains, and  she  was  still  there  at  the  time  of  our  visit. 

Corfu  was  very  delightful — but  I  recall  no  particular 
incident.  There  seemed  to  be  a  good  many  people 
who  still  regretted  that  Mr.  Gladstone  had  handed  it 
over  to  Greece. 

Our  gunboat  and  M.  Bakhmeteff  had  left  us  at 
Zante,  and  from  Corfu  we  went  by  an  Austrian  Lloyd 
steamer  to  Brindisi ;  thence  by  train  to  Naples.  There 
we  found  Lord  Rowton  and  dined  with  him  and  one  or 
two  friends.  We  also  spent  a  day  with  him  in  Rome, 
where  he  was  a  good  deal  amused  by  our  evident  feeling 
that  Roman  were  not  to  be  compared  to  Greek  anti- 
quities. 


CHAPTER  VII 

VOYAGE  TO  INDIA — HYDERABAD 

I  MUST  go  back  a  little  in  these  mixed  memories  to 
record  our  early  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Joseph  Chamber- 
lain, who  afterwards  became  one  of  our  great  friends. 
I  believe  that  I  first  met  him  at  Lady  St.  Helier's  (then 
Lady  Jeune)  at  a  luncheon  or  party  in  1886.  We  asked 
him  to  dinner  at  3  Great  Stanhope  Street,  and  he 
accepted — and  we  also  asked  the  Jeunes.  Mr.  Chamber- 
lain, though  this  was  about  the  time  that  he  split  with 
Gladstone  over  Home  Rule,  was  still  regarded  as  a 
dangerous  Radical,  and  was  by  no  means  universally 
met  in  Conservative  houses.  As  it  happened  he 
arrived  at  our  dinner  a  little  before  the  Jeunes.  As  they 
were  announced  I  went  to  the  drawing-room  door  to 
meet  them  and  she  stopped  me,  and  said  in  a  low  voice 
before  entering  the  room,  "  You  are  coming  to  dine 
with  me  on  such  a  date — shall  you  mind  meeting  Mr. 
Chamberlain  ?  "  (She  had  quite  forgotten  our  meeting 
at  her  house.)  "  He  is  in  the  house,"  was  ray  reply — 
whereat  she  gasped  and  nearly  fell  backwards.  I  well 
recollect  the  stern  disapproval  of  our  old-fashioned 
Tory  butler  Freeman.  He  showed  it  in  his  manner, 
though  he  did  not  venture  at  the  moment  to  put  it  into 
words — but  a  few  days  afterwards  we  had  another 
dinner  at  which  wore  j>resent  some  of  our  regular-  and 
I  am  sure  highly  respectable — friends.     The  following 

141 


142  VOYAGE    TO   INDIA  [ch.  vii 

morning  Freeman  said  to  me  solemnly,  "  We  had  a 
very  nice  dinner  last  night/'  "  Yes,"  said  I,  "  I  think 
it  went  off  very  well/'  "  All  very  nice  'people,"  he  added 
with  marked  emphasis,  and  left  me  to  digest  the  un- 
spoken rebuke. 

Freeman  was  a  great  character  and  his  comments 
were  apt  to  be  amusing.  The  year  after  this  incident 
Lord  Eobert  Cecil  spent  a  Sunday  at  Osterley,  and 
after  the  party  had  left  on  Monday  Freeman  informed 
me  that  there  was  only  one  thing  that  had  troubled 
him.  In  reply  to  my  rather  anxious  inquiry  as  to 
what  had  gone  wrong  he  said  :  "  That  fine  young  fellow 
Lord  Salisbury's  son  did  not  hold  himself  up  properly. 
I  spoke  to  his  servant  about  it,  and  he  said  it  was  his 
book.  I  said  our  young  lord  [Villiers]  is  very  clever, 
but  I  hope  he  will  hold  himself  up."  Poor  Freeman  ! 
he  was  rather  a  rough  diamond  in  some  respects,  but 
one  of  the  best  and  most  faithful  of  servants.  He 
caught  a  chill  and  died  early  in  1894,  soon  after  our 
return  from  Australia. 

To  return  to  Mr.  Chamberlain.  Though  already 
twice  a  widower  he  was  still  regarded  politically  as  a 
young  man,  and  I  remember  the  American  Minister 
Mr.  Phelps  assuring  me  that  he  had  watched  in  the 
House  of  Commons  Mr.  Gladstone  snub  Chamberlain  in 
a  way  that  he  was  convinced  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with 
his  breach  with  the  Liberal  party.  I  doubt  that  being 
more  than  a  very  secondary  cause,  but  I  perfectly 
recall  the  acrimonious  tone  in  which  Mr.  Chamberlain 
early  in  our  acquaintance  commented  on  the  way  in 
which  politicians  were  treated  "  because  they  were 
young/'  Anyhow,  Mr.  Chamberlain  not  only  asserted 
himself  as  worthy  of  all  consideration  politically,  but 
he  rapidly  discarded  socially  his  stern  views  of  those 


MR     JOSEPH   CHAMBERLAIN  143 

whom  he  had  formerly  stigmatised  as  "  lilies  of  the 
field."  The  late  Sir  Cecil  Spring  Rice  once  told  me 
that  he  and  Mr.  Chamberlain  had  been  thrown  together 
a  good  deal  on  some  occasion  in  America,  and  the 
latter  had  confided  to  him  that  he  had  really  believed 
that  the  so-called  "  upper  classes  "  were,  taken  as  a 
whole,  the  idle,  selfish,  self-indulgent,  and  generally 
pernicious  people  whom  he  had  denounced,  but  that 
when  he  came  to  know  them  he  realised  that  they  were 
a  very  different  set  of  individuals.  I  have  always  held 
that  Mr.  Chamberlain  was  an  honest  man,  and  that 
when  people  accused  him  of  changing  his  coat  his 
changes  were  the  result  of  conviction.  He  once  said 
to  me  that  he  had  invariably  held  that  the  people 
ought  to  have  what  they  really  wanted,  and  that  more 
than  once  he  had  discovered  that  he  was  mistaken  in 
what  he  had  previously  imagined  to  be  their  desires, 
and  that  then  he  was  willing  to  follow  their  lead.  "  For 
instance,"  he  said,  "  I  thought  the  country  wanted 
Secular  Education  and  therefore  advocated  it,  but 
experience  showed  me  that  this  was  not  the  case  and  I 
therefore  ceased  to  support  it."  Of  course  this  prin- 
ciple may  be  pushed  too  far.  A  statesman  ought  to 
have  some  convictions  from  which  he  cannot  and  will 
not  depart,  but  it  would  be  absurd  to  say  that  a  man 
entering  political  life  is  bound  to  have  a  cut-and-dried 
programme  which  nothing  will  make  him  modify. 
Moreover  Mr.  Chamberlain  had  grown  up  in  a  narrow 
commercial  circle,  and  larger  knowledge  of  men  and 
manners  was  bound  to  widen  his  views.  On  the  first 
occasion  that  he  stayed  with  us  at  Osterley  in  June  1887 
and  June  1888  his  daughter  Miss  Beatrice  Chamberlain 
came  with  him.  I  see  by  our  old  Visitors'  Book  that 
we  had  some  very  good  Conservatives  to  meet  them — 


144  VOYAGE    TO    INDIA  [ch.  vii 

in  1888  Lady  Lathom  and  her  daughter  Maud,  George 
Curzon,  Lord  and  Lady  Kintore,  Sir  John  Stirling 
Maxwell,  and  my  husband's  cousin,  Prince  Louis  Ester- 
hazy.  I  have  been  told  that  more  than  one  person 
first  saw  Mr.  Chamberlain  rowing  on  the  Lake  at  Oster- 
ley  in  a  tall  hat  and  with  a  pipe  in  his  mouth  !  I  rather 
think  that  it  was  at  a  garden  party.  In  1888  just  after 
the  death  of  the  Emperor  Frederick  almost  everyone 
appeared  in  mourning,  which  somebody  said  made  it 
look  like  a  funeral  wake  tempered  with  strawberries. 
Poor  Beatrice  Chamberlain,  however,  appeared  in  a 
sort  of  plaid  gown  which  made  her  very  mihappy. 
She  confided  to  Lady  Lathom  that  she  had  just  returned 
from  France  and  had  not  known  that  people  were  wear- 
ing mourning — moreover  she  belonged  to  some  society 
in  Birmingham  (a  very  sensible  one)  which  agreed  not 
to  wear  mourning  except  for  quite  the  nearest  relatives. 
She  was  afraid  we  might  think  that  her  clothes  were  due 
to  her  Kadical  principles,  which  we  certainly  did  not. 
She  became  a  very  talented  and  distinguished  woman, 
and  her  death,  a  few  years  ago,  was  a  loss  to  many  good 
causes.  I  was  much  touched  by  a  letter  which  she 
wrote  me  after  my  husband  died  in  1915  in  which  she 
said  that  he  and  I  had  been  kind  to  her  "  particularly 
in  the  long-ago  days  when  I,  not  so  very  young,  but  so 
very  raw,  was  keeping  house  for  papa  and  came  with 
him  into  this  strange,  unknown,  and  uncharted 
world  of  London."  We  had  done  little  enough,  and  it 
was  very  nice  of  her  to  preserve  such  a  recollection  for 
over  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

Next  year  when  Mr.  Chamberlain  stayed  with  us  he 
had  married  the  charming  Miss  Endicott,  now  Mrs. 
Carnegie,  but  I  shall  have  more  to  say  of  them  both 
later  on. 


DEPARTURE   FOR   INDIA  146 

I  must  now  record  some  recoUectious  of  the  first 
of  our  three  visits  to  India. 

The  idea  of  such  a  journey  arose  from  my  seeing 
Mr.  Robert  Bourke  in  a  hansom  as  I  was  driving  late  in 
the  season  of  1886.  He  waved  to  me  and  I  stopped 
to  hear  what  lie  had  to  say.  "  I  want  to  talk  to  you 
and  Jersey,"  said  he.  "  Very  well,"  I  said  ;  "  come  down 
to  Osterley  and  you  will  find  us  both  at  such  a  time." 
It  was  accordingly  arranged,  and  he  told  us  that  Lord 
Salisbury  had  offered  him  the  Government  of  Madras. 
He  was  somewhat  upset,  as  he  had  been  Under-Secre- 
tary for  Foreign  Afiairs  when  Lord  Salisbury  was 
Secretary  of  State  for  that  Department,  and  when  the 
latter  became  Prime  Minister  Mr.  Bourke  thought  that 
he  ought  to  have  had  higher  promotion,  and  regarded 
this  offer  rather  as  exile.  However,  on  talking  it  all  over 
he  began  to  paint  the  gubernatorial  glories  in  more 
roseate  hues,  and  my  husband  and  I  both  recommended 
him  to  accept,  as  we  neither  of  us  thought  in  our  hearts 
that  ho  was  likely  to  attain  Cabinet  rank  in  England. 
Then  he  said,  "  If  I  go,  will  you  come  out  and  stay 
with  me  ?  "  It  was  a  new  but  attractive  project,  and 
we  gave  a  provisional  promise  which  we  fulfilled  in  the 
autunm  of  1888.  My  parents  undertook  to  keep  an 
eye  on  the  younger  children  and  to  have  them  at  Stone- 
leigh  for  part  of  our  absence— it  was  arranged  that 
Villiers  should  join  us  when  liis  Christmas  holidays 
began,  and  the  Eton  authorities  consented  that  he 
should  miss  the  fijlhjwing  term  as  it  was  thought  that 
India  would  be  equally  educational.  We  accordingly 
took  our  passages  on  the  P.  and  0.  Arcadia,  which  left 
Marseilles  on  Friday,  October  l^Gth.  My  brother  Dudley 
and  Mr.  Charles  BuUer  sailed  in  tlie  same  ship,  which 
was  a  new  one  and   had   iinproVfinents  tlien   icckoiu'd 


146  VOYAGE    TO    INDIA  [ch.  vii 

very  novel.  For  instance,  it  had  electric  light,  which 
had  not  yet  been  installed  in  all  the  P.  and  0.  fleet. 
There  were  about  240  first-class  passengers — some  enter- 
taining ones  among  them,  including  Sir  Samuel  and 
Lady  Baker,  Captain  Hext,  who  was  Director  of  Indian 
Marine,  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Gerard  Leigh.  In  the  second 
saloon  was  the  theosophist  Colonel  Olcott — an  odd 
mixture  of  philanthropy  and  humbug — but  discussions 
with  him  often  served  to  pass  the  time.  One  was  not 
allowed  to  ask  a  second-saloon  passenger  for  meals,  but 
we  had  permission  for  him  to  come  and  talk  to  us,  and 
also  to  give  two  theosophical  lectures  in  the  first-class 
saloon.  I  shall  have  more  to  say  of  him  at  Madras — 
but  the  inner  meaning  of  theosophy  is  so  often  discussed 
that  I  insert  here  the  way  in  which  he  presented  it  as  I 
noted  in  my  journal  after  one  of  his  lectures  given  when 
we  were  nearing  Port  Said  : 

"  Colonel  Olcott  gave  a  lecture  on  the  Theosophical 
Society  of  which  he  is  President.  The  Society  has  its 
headquarters  in  Madras  "  (N.B. — really  at  Adyar  near 
Madras)  "  and  has  three  chief  objects — Universal 
Brotherhood,  Study  of  ancient  oriental  texts.  Investi- 
gation of  hidden  psychical  forces.  It  admits  ftiembers 
of  any  religion,  but  requires  universal  toleration.  Prac- 
tically its  own  tenets  are  Buddhist,  that  being  rather  a 
philosophy  than  a  religion.  It  professes,  however,  to 
assist  its  members  to  the  better  comprehension  of  the 
esoteric  or  underlying  significations  of  their  respective 
religions." 

Colonel  Olcott  himself  was  a  Buddhist,  and  moreover 
laid  claim  to  certain  powers  of  healing,  which  I  should 
imagine,  in  so  far  as  they  were  effectual,  were  a  kind  of 
faith  healing ;  he  went  beyond  M.  Coue,  as  he  declared 
that  he  had  healed  a  blind  man  !     Mrs.  Gerard  Leigh 


COL.    OLCOTT   AND   PROF.   MAX   MULLER      147 

gravely  asked  hiin  one  day  whether  he  could  give  her 
something  to  protect  her  against  spooks,  as  she  often 
had  to  stay  in  a  house  which  she  believed  to  be  haunted. 
"  Give  me  something  you  are  accustomed  to  wear,"  he 
said,  and  she  handed  him  a  ring.  He  stared  at  it,  and 
said,  "  If  you  could  see — you  would  see  two  rays  " 
(blue  rays  1  think  he  said)  "  going  from  my  eyes  into  this 
ring."  ""  What  will  it  do  ?  "  she  asked/  "  Well,"  was 
the  answer,  "  it  will  be  like  a  hand  laid  on  your  head  to 
protect  you."  If  she  remembered  it  next  time  a  spook 
was  about,  I  feel  sure  that  it  was  most  effectual.  "  Your 
ring,"  he  said  to  one  of  us,  "  came  out  of  a  jeweller's 
shop — mine  came  out  of  a  rose,"  and  told  us  a  pleasing 
legend  of  how  his  sister  held  a  rose  and  Madame  Blavat- 
sky  conjured  a  ring  out  of  it. 

He  had  very  exalted  philanthropic  views,  and  long 
afterwards,  when  he  was  in  England,  Professor  Max 
Miiller  told  me  that  he  had  said  to  him,  "  Colonel  Olcott, 
with  all  your  fine  ideas  for  doing  good  how  can  you  lend 
yourself  to  that  nonsense  of  broken  tea-cups  and  so 
on  ?  "  "  And,"  continued  Max  Miiller,  "  he  looked 
down  through  his  funny  blue  spectacles  and  answered, 
*  All  religions  must  be  manured  ' — which  surely  gave 
away  the  whole  show." 

Colonel  Olcott  was  extremely  anxious  to  enlist  me  as 
a  member  of  the  Theosophical  Society,  assuring  me 
that  he  only  wanted  my  signature  to  a  document 
which  he  would  keep  privately,  "  not  for  publication." 
What  good  it  would  do  him  in  that  case  is  not 
very  apparent,  but  the  net  was  spread  in  vain  in 
the  sight  of  the  bird  as  far  as  I  was  concerned.  Years 
afterwards  he  reappeared  at  Sydney  and  renewed  his 
appeal  in  the  following  pathetic — but  still  unsuc- 
cessful —verses  : 


148  VOYAGE    TO    INDIA  [ch.  vii 

"  To  our  Lady  of  Leigh 

Only  a  paper,  Sign  :   I  entreat  you, 

A  very  short  paper,  Bishops  will  greet  you. 

An  innocent  paper.  Clergy  beseech  you. 

My  lady,  to  sign.  Lady,  to  join 

Expressing  your  int'rest,  This  league  confraternal 

Your  broad-minded  int'rest.  To  seek  the  eternal — 

Your  psychical  int'rest,  Not  the  infernal — • 

In  this  work  of  mine.  Basis  of  truth  ! 

H.  S.  O." 
Sydney,  7th  May  1891. 

Anotlier,  still  more  generally  interesting,  fellow- 
voyager  on  ■  the  Arcadia  was,  as  already  mentioned.  Sir 
Samuel  Baker,  who,  with  his  intrepid  wife,  was  making 
one  of  his  frequent  journeys  to  India.  He  enlivened 
many  hours  which  might  have  proved  tedious  by 
stories  of  his  African  adventures,  and  was  always  sur- 
rounded by  an  interested  circle  of  listeners.  He  told 
how  on  his  expedition  to  the  sources  of  the  White  Nile 
he  had  met  two  tattered  figures  which  proved  to  be 
Speke  and  Grant  coming  back  from  tracing  that  part 
of  the  river  which  flowed  from  the  Victoria  Nyanza. 
They  urged  him  to  continue  his  undertaking  as  they 
said  that  if  he  also  found  the  source  he  was  seeking 
"  England  will  have  done  it  " — and  she  did.  He  asked 
them  to  come  into  his  camp — but  they  hung  back — and 
when  he  asked  why  they  explained  that  they  heard  he 
had  Mrs.  Baker  with  him,  and  were  in  such  rags  that 
they  did  not  like  to  present  themselves  before  a  lady  ! 
Nevertheless  they  were  induced  not  to  treat  the 
desert  like  a  London  drawing-room,  and  the  lady 
laughed  and  mended  their  clothes  for  them.  Sir 
Samuel  loved  to  tell  stories  of  his  wife's  heroism  and 
self-possession  in  more  than  one  critical  juncture.  With 
all  her  adventures  she  had  remained  a  very  simple  and 
charming  woman. 


.SIR  SAMUEL  BAKER  149 

When  we  were  passing  the  Arabian  Coast  of  the  Gulf 
of  Suez  Sir  Samuel  Baker  pointed  out  Mount  Sinai, 
though  some  people  pretend  that  you  can  only  see 
its  whereabouts — not  the  Mountain  itself.  He  told  us 
a  great  deal  of  Moses'  adventures — from  Josephus,  I 
believe — but  he  also  said  that  he  himself  had  seen  all 
the  Plagues  of  Egypt,  though  he  said  that  for  "  lice  " 
one  should  read  "  ticks  "  !  We  asked  how  about  the 
Darkness  '?  He  said  he  had  been  in  a  Khamsin  wind 
when  for  twenty  minutes  you  could  not  see  the  flame  of 
a  candle  close  by  ;  and  as  for  the  "  first-born,"  when 
plague  or  cholera  swept  off  families  they  only  cared 
about  the  first-born,  the  second-  or  third-born  did  not 
count.  He  and  Lady  Baker  were  also  very  amusing 
about  the  visits  to  Egypt  of  the  Princess  of  Wales  and 
the  Empress  Eugenie  respectively. 

We  had  a  mild  excitement  in  the  Gulf  of  Aden  when 
a  man  played  the  "  Boulanger  "  hymn  during  dinner. 
No  one  now  would  recognise  the  "  Boulanger  "  hymn, 
as  the  hero  of  the  black  horse  is  forgotten,  but  then 
the  Germans  hissed  and  the  French  applauded.  The 
captain  was  appealed  to,  and  sent  word  to  "  tell  the 
man  to  stop  that  noise  " — a  message  which  the  steward 
delivered  too  accurately  to  please  the  performer  ! 

I  do  not  describe  any  of  the  sights  wliich  we  saw 
either  at  the  Ports  or  at  sea,  much  as  they  thrilled  such 
unaccustomed  oriental  travellers  as  ourselves.  Most 
people  now  are  familiar  with  the  voyage  either  from 
personal  experience  or  from  oral  or  written  descrip- 
tions. I  have  made  it  several  times  since,  and,  bad 
sailor  as  I  am,  only  wisii  1  were  young  enougli  to  under- 
take it  again.  Our  cicerones  treated  us  mercifully,  but 
I  believe  some  greenhorns  are  not  so  fortunate.  1  heard 
of  one  ycjiith  wlju  was  warned  in  advance  that  the 
11 


150  VOYAGE    TO    INDIA  [C3h.  vii 

sailors  and  others  were  sure  to  try  to  take  him  in. 
He  was  told  several  facts  concerning  the  places  and 
people  which  they  passed — these  he  absolutely  refused 
to  believe.  At  last  someone  pointed  out  rocks  in  the 
sea  near  Suez  and  said,  "  Those  are  the  wheels  of 
Pharaoh's  chariots.''  "  Ah,  that  I  know  is  true,"  said 
the  youth,  "  for  it's  in  the  Bible." 

We  arrived  at  Bombay  on  the  morning  of  November 
10th,  and  were  as  delighted  as  are  most  visitors  with  the 
glitter  and  glow  of  the  city  with  its  swarming  and  varied 
population.  The  Yacht  Club  was  a  cool  and  pleasant 
resort — and  we  visited  the  Arab  horse-market,  the 
Towers  of  Silence,  and  other  well  known  sights.  Parti- 
cularly were  we  impressed  with  the  curious  Caverns  on 
the  Island  of  Elephanta,  with  the  gigantic  figures  carved 
in  high  relief.  Few  could  help  being  awed  by  the  three 
immense  heads  joined  together  in  the  Central  Division 
of  the  great  Central  Hall,  representing  Brahma,  Siva, 
and  Vishnu.  I  was  specially  interested  in  the  designs 
representing  the  story  of  the  favourite  Hindu  deity 
Ganpati  or  Ganesha.  You  see  the  marriage  of  his 
parents  Siva  and  Parvati,  his  birth,  and  a  battle  among 
the  gods  and  demons  in  the  course  of  which  he  had  his 
head  cut  off.  His  irate  mother  substituted  an  ele- 
phant's head  and  declared  that  she,  the  Mother  of 
Nature,  would  upset  everything  unless  gods  and  men 
worshipped  him  in  this  guise — and  he  now  appears  as 
God  of  Wisdom.  Another  version  is  that  Siva  himself 
cut  off  his  son's  head,  mistaking  him  for  an  intruder  in 
his  mother's  apartments.  However  that  may  be,  the 
lower  class  of  Hindu  have  adopted  him  as  a  favourite 
deity,  and  we  were  told  of  a  great  festival  in  February 
when  they  flock  to  the  Caves  with  offerings  of  coco-nuts, 
rice,  and  leaves. 


MAHABLESHWAR  161 

Our  travelling- companion  Captain  Hext  was  most 
kind  to  us  in  Bombay,  and  a  Parsee,  Mr.  AUbless, 
showed  us  something  of  the  life  of  that  community. 

From  Bombay,  after  a  night  at  Poona,  we  went  to 
Mahableshwar  to  stay  with  our  kind  friends,  Lord  and 
Lady  Reay,  he  being  at  that  time  Governor  of  the 
Bombay  Presidency.  We  left  the  train  at  Wathar 
and  a  drive  of  about  five  hours  through  magnificent 
scenery  brought  us  to  our  destination  soon  after  seven 
in  the  evening  of  November  14th.  We  were  greatly 
struck  by  the  huge  square-topped  mountains  towering 
in  giant  terraces  above  fertile,  well-watered  valleys. 
The  soil  was  generally  deep  brown  or  deep  red.  As 
darkness  came  on  we  saw  quantities  of  fire-flies  amongst 
the  luxuriant  vegetation.  Next  morning  the  view 
from  the  house  across  the  valley  to  a  gigantic  square- 
topped  mountain  beyond  was  so  dazzling  as  almost 
to  take  away  one's  breath.  Few  things  are  so  im- 
pressive as  to  arrive  after  dark  at  an  unknown  dwelling, 
and  to  awaken  in  the  morning  to  a  new  world  of  glorious 
scenery  quivering  in  sunshine  and  colour.  I  recall 
two  instances  of  the  same  awaking  to  the  joy  of  natural 
beauty  previously  unsuspected — once  at  GlengarifE 
and  once  at  Mahableshwar.  The  soft  radiance  of 
Southern  Ireland  was  very  different  from  the  almost 
violent  colouring  of  India,  but  the  sudden  delight  was 
the  same. 

We  spent  a  very  happy  six  days  at  Mahableshwar 
and  saw  all  sorts  of  interesting  people  and  places, 
including  the  haunts  of  the  great  Maliratta  Chieftain 
Sivaji.  Our  introduction  to  Indian  hill  life  could  not 
have  been  made  under  pleasanter  auspices  nor  with 
kinder  hosts. 

The  Duke  of    Connau^ht  was  then  Commander-in- 


152  VOYAGE    TO    INDIA  [ch.  vii 

Chief  of  the  Bombay  Presidency  troops.  H.R.H.  and 
the  Duchess  lived  near  the  Reays,  and  they  were  also 
very  good  to  us.  Lady  Patricia  Ramsay  was  then  a 
most  attractive  little  girl  of  two  years  old.  The  older 
children  were  in  England.  The  Duke,  here  as  elsewhere, 
had  a  great  reputation  as  a  soldier. 

When  we  visited  Pertab  Ghur,  one  of  Sivaji's  thirty- 
one  mountain  fortresses,  we  w^ere  told  with  amazement 
that  the  Duke  and  his  officers  had  lately  brought  a 
battery  of  mule  artillery  up  the  steep  hill  leading  thereto. 
This  fort  had  an  arched  gateway  almost  concealed 
in  the  hill-side,  with  a  door  covered  with  iron  spikes. 
About  fifty  people  live  in  the  fort,  and  when  they  saw 
the  battery  approaching  they  took  the  soldiers  for 
dacoits  and  shut  the  gates  against  them. 

One  visitor  to  Lord  and  Lady  Reay  while  we  were 
with  them  was  the  Aga  Khan,  since  so  widely  known,  but 
then  a  boy  of  about  thirteen  who  was  brought  by  his 
uncle  to  pay  his  respects  to  the  Governor.  The  story 
of  his  ancestry  as  told  to  me  at  the  time  was  as  follows. 
Some  generations  ago  a  Hindu  announced  a  tenth 
Avatar,  or  Incarnation,  of  Vishnu,  and  persuaded  a 
number  of  people  to  give  him  offerings  for  the  Avatar. 
At  last,  however,  the  devotees  became  tired  of  parting 
with  their  goods  for  an  unseen  deity  and  insisted  that 
the  Avatar  should  be  shown  to  his  disciples.  The 
Hindu  agreed,  and  selected  a  deputation  of  two  hundred, 
whom  he  conducted  on  a  sort  of  pilgrimage  through 
Northern  India  seeking  for  a  suitable  representative 
who  would  consent  to  play  the  required  part.  At  last 
they  reached  the  borders  of  Persia,  and  there  he  heard 
of  a  holy  man  belonging  to  the  then  Royal  Family 
who  would,  he  thought,  fulfil  all  the  requirements. 
Before  introducing  his  followers  he  contrived  a  private 


H.H.   THE   AGA  KHAN  163 

interview  with  the  Imaun  (as  I  believe  he  was  called) 
and  offered  to  hand  over  to  him  all  the  disciples  and 
their  future  offerings  if  he  would  assume  the  character 
of  an  Avatar  and  pretend  to  have  received  those  already 
given.  The  Princely  Saint  consented  on  condition 
that  the  Hindu  believers  should  become  Mohammedans 
— no  doubt  this  wholesale  conversion  to  the  true  faith 
overcame  any  scruples  which  he  may  have  felt  con- 
cerning the  requisite  trivial  deception.  Thus  arose 
the  sect  of  the  Khojahs,  Hindu — or  at  least  Indian — 
Mohammedans,  acknowledging  the  spiritual  headship 
of  this  Persian  Avatar  and  his  descendants.  Some 
say  that  this  Imaun  was  one  of  the  tribe  or  order  of 
the  Assassins  of  whom  the  Old  Man  of  the  Mountains 
was  chief  in  the  time  of  the  Crusades.  It  was  declared 
that  each  head  of  Aga  Khan's  family  was  assassinated 
in  turn,  and  that  his  life  would  be  sacrificed  in  due 
course  to  make  way  for  his  successor.  However,  I 
hope  that  is  not  true,  as  I  have  known  him  for  over 
thirty  years  and  saw  him  very  much  alive  not  long 
ago. 

When  we  met  at  Mahableshwar  he  was  a  stout  youth 
with  dark  eyes  and  hair  and  a  very  composed  manner. 
His  father,  who  had  died  before  our  interview,  did  not 
want  the  boy  in  childhood  to  know  of  his  semi-divine 
character  as  he  justly  thought  that  it  would  not  be 
very  good  for  him,  but  the  boy  was  too  acute  to  be  kept 
in  the  dark.  His  mother  was  a  Persian  princess,  and 
he  is  immensely  rich  from  offerings  made  to  himself 
and  his  ancestors.  Even  in  boyliood  he  was  called 
"  His  Highness,"  that  title  having  been  given  him  in 
1896 — but  the  rank  and  salute  of  a  chief  of  the  Bombay 
Presidency  was  not  granted  till  I'.)  10,  as  he  is  not  a 
territorial  prince,   but  owes  his  wealth  and   immense 


154  VOYAGE    TO    INDIA  [ch.  vii 

influence  to  the  large  numbers  both  in  India  and  Zanzi- 
bar who  acknowledge  his  spiritual  sway. 

We  were  told  that  he  sometimes  had  a  milk  bath 
and  that  his  followers  were  then  allowed  to  drink  the 
milk  in  Which  he  had  bathed !  Lord  Keay  asked 
whether  he  would  have  to  fast  in  Ramadan,  but  he  said 
not  till  he  was  fifteen.  I  asked  what  was  done  to  people 
if  they  did  not  keep  the  fast.  He  said  nothing  in  India, 
but  in  Persia  the  Moollahs  beat  defaulters. 

When  Aga  Khan  grew  up  he  managed  to  reconcile 
his  followers  to  the  orthodox  Mohammedan  faith.  He 
traces  his  descent  from  Mohammed's  son-in-law  Ali. 
What  his  private  religious  views  may  have  been  is 
impossible  to  say ;  I  should  think  he  was  really  a  Mo- 
hammedan, but  considered  it  necessary  to  allow  his 
followers  to  regard  him  as  semi-divine.  He  was  supposed 
in  after  years  to  have  said  to  his  friends  that  he  could 
drink  wine  if  he  liked  because  his  devotees  were  made 
to  believe  that  his  throat  was  so  holy  that  it  changed 
to  water  on  touching  it — and  he  added  that  "  being  a 
god  was  not  all  beer  and  skittles  \  "  I  must  say  that 
when  he  sat  near  me  at  dinner  at  Osterley  he  did  not 
drink  wine.  lie  was  once  dining  there  when  in  England 
for  King  Edward's  coronation,  and  I  told  him  that  the 
Sikh  High-Priest  was  reported  to  have  said  that  he 
did  not  like  to  be  mixed  up  with  "  these  secular  persons  " 
and  wanted  to  hold  the  robe  of  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  on  the  occasion.  Aga  Khan  comically 
protested  against  such  an  invasion  of  his  ecclesiastical 
status,  and  said  in  that  case  he  should  complain  to  the 
King  and  go  back  to  India  ! 

From  Mahableshwar  a  journey  of  two  days  and  a 
night  brought  us  to  Hyderabad  (Deccan) — where  we 
stayed    at  the   Residency   with   the   Acting-Resident 


RACES   AT  HYDERABAD  155 

Mr.  Howell  and  his  wife.  We  were  enchanted  with 
Hyderabad — a  real  typical  Native  State  and  extra- 
ordinarily picturesque.  We  saw  various  interesting 
examples  of  native  life  and  tradition  both  in  the 
pauses  on  our  journey  and  from  the  train.  As  we 
drew  near  Hyderabad  there  were  numbers  of  im- 
mense syenite  stones  piled  on  each  other  or  scattered 
over  the  plain.  Legend  says  that  when  Rama  was 
pursuing  the  giant  Ravana  who  had  carried  off  Siva 
he  enlisted  the  aid  of  the  monkey-god  Hanuman  and 
his  army  to  make  a  bridge  to  Ceylon.  The  monkeys 
carried  rocks  from  the  Himalayas,  but  not  unnaturally 
became  pretty  tired  by  the  time  they  reached  the 
Deccan  and  let  a  good  many  fall,  which  may  still 
be  seen  scattered  about. 

Hyderabad  is  largely  j\Iohammedan,  and  the  Nizam 
has  a  considerable  army,  including  a  regiment  of  negro 
cavalry  and  a  good  many  Arabs.  We  were  fortunate 
in  seeing  a  race-meeting  the  day  after  our  arrival,  and 
this  gathering  of  natives  in  all  their  variety  of  costume 
and  colour  was  dazzling  to  our  unaccustomed  eyes.  The 
populace  swarmed  in  the  trees  and  clustered  round 
the  boundary  of  the  course,  but  even  more  brilliant 
were  the  garments  of  the  native  nobles  and  gentlemen 
who  walked  about  in  the  ring  and  gathered  in  the  grand- 
st-and.  They  wore  long  coats  of  every  conceivable  hue 
and  of  rich  mat<irials,  flowered  red  and  green  and  gold 
silk,  purple  velvet  or  embroidered  white,  with  gold- 
worked  belts,  l)riglit  turbans,  and  sometimes  swords. 
There  were  little  boys  gaily  dressed  like  their  fathers, 
riders  in  while  muslin  with  black  and  gold  turbans, 
on  prancing  horses  with  tails  dyed  pink,  others  carrying 
little  flags  at  the  end  of  spears  ;  Arabs  of  the  Nizam's 
hcxiyguan!  willi  high  Ixjots  and  green,  red,  dark-blur. 


156  VOYAGE    TO   INDIA  [ch.  vii 

and  gold  costumes  and  striped  floating  round  their 
heads,  and  the  Nizam's  syces  in  yellow  and  blue. 

The  Nizam  himself,  an  effete  individual,  had  a  red 
fez,  a  pearl  watch-chain,  and  dazzling  emerald  rings, 
but  was  otherwise  in  European  dress.  Around  him 
were  the  gentlemen  of  his  Court,  salaaming  to  him  and 
to  each  other  with  strictly  Oriental  etiquette,  and 
mingled  with  them  English  ofl&cers,  ladies  and  civilians. 
Flags  were  flying  surmounted  by  the  Union  Jack,  and 
a  band  played,  ending  up  with  '*  God  save  the  Queen.'' 
The  jockeys  were  some  English  and  some  native,  the 
owners  English,  Parsee,  and  Mohammedan. 

A  hot  Indian  sun  made  the  scene  glow  with  golden 
warmth  during  the  afternoon  and  with  rosy  pink  as  it 
set  in  the  evening  with  the  unexpected  rapidity  which 
is  almost  startling  until  use  has  made  it  familiar.  I 
was  talking  a  few  days  later  to  an  Indian  gentleman 
about  his  visit  to  England,  and  he  said  what  he  did  not 
like  was  the  light,  which  interfered  with  his  sleeping. 
Light  is  the  last  thing  of  which  I  should  have  expected 
England  to  be  accused,  but  there  is  in  India  no  great 
variety  in  the  length  of  night  and  day  all  the  year 
round,  so  my  friend  was  unaccustomed  to  the  very 
early  dawn  of  an  English  summer  day.  Not  long  ago 
I  heard  of  an  English  coachman  employed  in  America. 
He,  on  being  asked  his  opinion  of  the  States,  said  he 
did  not  like  two  things — they  had  no  twilight  and  said 
the  Lord's  Prayer  wrong  (i.e.  **  Who  art "  instead  of 
*'  Which  art ").  It  is  difficult  to  satisfy  the  physical 
and  theological  prejudices  of  an  alien  in  any  land. 

Jersey  had  been  introduced  to  the  Nizam  the  day 
following  our  arrival ;  I  made  his  acquaintance  at  the 
races,  but  found  him  singularly  lacking  in  animation. 
The  only  occasion  on  which  I  saw  him  aroused  to  any- 


H.H.   THE   NIZAM  OF  HYDERABAD         157 

thing  like  interest  was  when  we  went  to  the  Palace  to 
see  his  jewels.  He  had  wonderful  strings  of  pearls  and 
emeralds,  something  like  a  tiara  of  diamonds  for  the 
front  of  a  turban,  large  single  diamonds  in  rings,  one 
remarkable  ruby  engraved  with  the  seals  of  the  Moghul 
emperors,  and  an  uncut  diamond  valued  at  £720,000 
which  was  as  uninteresting  to  look  at  as  a  pebble  picked 
up  on  a  beach.  H  I  recollect  rightly  that  diamond 
afterwards  played  a  part  in  a  lawsuit.  Jersey  said 
something  about  black  pearls,  which  he  happened  to 
admire.  The  Nizam  did  not  appear  to  notice  the  re- 
mark, which  was  translated  to  him,  but  presently 
made  a  slight  sign,  and  with  the  ghost  of  a  smile  pro- 
duced a  little  calico  bag  from  which  he  extracted  a 
couple  of  these  gems. 

Poor  man — he  had  four  thousand  women  shut  up  in 
his  Zenana.  That  included  his  father's  wives  and 
women  servants  as  well  as  his  own.  Every  woman 
who  becomes  his  wife  begins  with  a  monthly  pension 
of  35  rupees,  which  can,  of  course,  be  increased  by  his 
favour.  There  was  a  story  going  when  we  were  at 
Hyderabad  that  the  women  had,  shortly  before,  inveigled 
the  Nizam  into  the  depths  of  the  Zenana  and  given  him 
a  good  flogging !  No  doubt  strange  things  may  happen 
in  remote  apartments  where  no  male  except  eunuchs 
may  ent^r.  The  present  Nizam  is,  I  believe,  an  en- 
lightened and  loyal  ruler. 

The  City  of  Hyderabad  was  about  eight  miles  in 
circumference,  and  as  a  quarter  was  occupied  by  the 
Nizam's  palatial  buildings  there  was  room  and  to 
spare  both  for  ladies  and  Court  ofiicials.  The  Nizam 
is  of  course  semi-independent,  but  the  British  Govern- 
ment exerciscH  the  ultimate  control.  Fortunately, 
though  the  Nizam  did  not  shine  intellectually,  he  had 


158  VOYAGE    TO    INDIA  [ch.  vii 

some  very  intelligent  Ministers,  notably  Sir  Salar  Jung, 
who  exercised  the  chief  control,  and  the  very  enlightened 
Director  of  Education,  Syed  Hossain  Bilgrami,  who  with 
his  brother  Seyd  Ali  had  originally  come  from  Bengal 
and  contrived  to  establish  an  intellectual  standard 
distinctly  superior  to  that  of  many  Native  States. 
Amongst  other  things  Syed  Hossain  had  set  up  a  Zenana 
School  for  "  purdah ''  girls  of  the  upper  classes,  which 
was  at  that  time  quite  a  new  experiment  in  India.  When 
we  saw  it  the  head  mistress  was  a  Mrs.  Littledale,  a 
Christian  Hindu  lady  married  to  an  Englishman.  The 
main  idea  was  that  the  young  ladies  should  be  suffi- 
ciently educated  to  be  real  companions  to  the  men 
whom  they  were  ultimately  to  marry.  One  of  the 
pupils  on  the  occasion  of  our  visit  was  a  cousin  of  the 
Bilgramis  engaged  to  one  of  Syed  Hossain's  sons.  The 
young  man  in  question  was  then  at  Oxford,  and  under- 
stood to  be  anxious  for  the  education  of  his  lady-love. 
The  whole  question  of  the  higher  education  of  Indian 
women,  particularly  of  those  of  the  upper  classes, 
bristles  with  difficulties.  It  has  much  advanced  in 
the  thirty-three  years  which  have  elapsed  since  our 
first  visit  to  Hyderabad,  but  the  problems  have  not 
yet  been  by  any  means  completely  solved.  If  young 
women  are  educated  up  to  anything  like  a  European 
standard  they  can  hardly  fail  to  be  discontented  with 
continuous  seclusion.  On  the  other  hand,  if  they  are 
allowed  to  come  out  of  purdah  and  to  mix  freely  with 
others  of  both  sexes  they  will  be  looked  down  upon  by 
large  sections  of  the  community,  and  in  many  cases, 
particularly  among  the  ruling  families,  it  will  be  difficult 
to  arrange  suitable  marriages  for  them.  One  sometimes 
wonders  whether  such  complete  freedom  as  prevails  in 
Western  and  Northern  lands  has  been  altogether  bene- 


PURDAH  LADIES  159 

ficial  to  their  women,  and  the  climate  of  India  might 
make  unrestrained  intercourse  even  more  difficult. 
However,  Parsee  women  are  not  secluded,  nor  are  the 
women  of  the  quite  low  Indian  castes. 

As  far  as  I  could  make  out,  opinions  differed  among  the 
ladies  themselves  as  to  whether  they  should  or  should 
not  prefer  to  come  out  of  purdah.  Some  certainly 
considered  that  for  husbands  to  allow  it  would  be  to 
show  that  they  did  not  properly  value  their  wives.  For 
instance,  the  Nizam's  aide-de-camp  Ali  Bey,  a  very 
active,  intelligent  soldier,  told  us  that  he  would  not 
at  all  mind  his  wife  seeing  men  or  going  about,  but 
that  she  would  not  wish  it.  On  one  occasion  when  the 
fort  at  Secunderabad  was  brilliantly  illuminated  with 
electric  lights  for  some  festivity  he  offered  to  drive 
her  out  late,  when  the  people  had  gone,  to  see  the 
effect,  but  she  declined.  On  the  other  hand,  when  we 
dined  with  the  Financial  Secretary  Mehdi  Ali,  and  the 
ladies  went  afterwards  into  an  inner  drawing-room  to 
see  Mrs.  Melidi  Ali,  she  rather  pathetically  said  to  me 
in  perfect  English  :  "  I  cannot  go  to  call  upon  you, 
Lady  Jersey.  I  am  not  a  woman,  but  a  bird  in  a  cage." 
It  seemed  rather  absurd  that  she  should  be  secluded, 
for  she  was  evidently  highly  educated,  and  I  understood 
read  French  as  well  as  English.  Her  costume  was 
somewhat  interesting.  Most  of  the  Moslem  ladies  wore 
trousers  and  were  enveloped  in  a  sari.  ]\Irs.  Mehdi  Ali 
liad  a  gorgeous  brocade  garment  specially  designed  by 
Howell  Sc  James,  which  at  a  casual  glance  looked  like 
an  ordinary  gown  but  somehow  embraced  a  "  divided 
skirt." 

I  had  an  amusing  breakfast  with  the  sisters  of  Sir 
Salar  Jung  and  his  brother  the  Munir-ul-Mulk.  We  had 
dined  thn  previous  ovcninp;  at  a  gorgeous  });inquot  with 


160  VOYAGE    TO   INDIA  [ch.  vii 

the  brothers,  and  the  ladies  of  the  party,  including 
Lady  Gal  way,  Mrs.  Howell,  and  five  others,  were  in- 
vited for  eleven  o'clock  the  following  morning  to  the 
Zenana  in  the  same  Palace.  Of  course  brothers  may 
be  present  with  their  sisters.  With  a  truly  Oriental 
disregard  of  time  the  Munir  appeared  about  11.25,  the 
ladies  still  later.  The  Munir  was  attired  in  an  azure 
blue  coat  embroidered  with  silver.  The  materials  of 
the  most  gorgeous  men's  coats  were  imported  from  Paris 
— and  their  fezes  chiefly  came  from  Lincoln  &  Bennett's 
in  London. 

As  for  the  ladies,  they  generally  wore  stockings  and 
over  them  long  drawers  or  breeches,  fitting  tightly  to  the 
lower  part  of  the  leg  and  very  full  above.  They  had 
jackets  and  voluminous  scarves  called  "  chuddars."  I 
believe  the  breeches  were  sewn  on  !  One  of  the  sisters 
wore  yellow  as  a  prevailing  colour,  and  had  bare  arms 
and  feet.  The  other  had  a  magnificent  gold  embroi- 
dered crimson  velvet  jacket,  a  green  chuddar,  and  pink 
stockings.  These  ladies  were  both  married,  but  the 
husband  of  one  was  in  a  lunatic  asylum.  There  was 
also  present  a  female  cousin,  but  she,  being  a  widow, 
was  all  in  white  and  wore  no  jewels  except  one  or  two 
armlets. 

Our  breakfast  was  spread  on  a  long  table  under  the 
colonnade  where  we  had  dined  the  previous  night.  We 
had  then  sat  on  chairs  at  a  regular  dining -table,  but 
this  was  only  raised  a  few  inches  from  the  ground 
and  we  sat  on  the  floor,  which  was  covered  with  a 
white  cloth.  The  table  was  thickly  covered  with 
piled-up  dishes  containing  principally  all  kinds  of  curry 
and  rice  cooked  in  different  ways.  Water  was  the 
main  drink,  but  anyone  who  liked  could  ask  for  coffee. 
Everyone    had   plates,    and    the   Englishwomen   were 


BREAKFAST   IN   A  ZENANA  161 

provided  with  spoons  and  forks,  but  the  Indian  ladies 
ate  (very  tidily)  with  their  fingers,  over  which  attendants 
poured  water  after  breakfast.  The  two  sisters  (half- 
sisters  really)  sat  side  by  side,  and  laughed  and  chattered 
incessantly.  Miss  White,  a  lady  doctor  who  was 
present,  interpreted  anything  they  had  to  say,  but 
they  were  just  nieri;y,  talkative  children  with  no  real 
interest  in  anything  beyond  their  clothes,  food,  and 
jewels.  Miss  White  said  that  they  knew,  and  taught 
their  children,  nothing.  I  should  say  that  they  were 
the  most  ignorant  of  all  the  native  ladies  whom  I  have 
met  in  India,  but  certainly  not  the  least  happy,  and 
apparently  quite  contented. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

MADRAS,   CALCUTTA,   AND   BENARES 

From  Hyderabad  we  went  to  Madras  to  fulfil  our 
promise  of  paying  a  visit  to  Mr.  Bourke,  who  had  now 
become  Lord  Connemara.  We  stayed  there  for  over 
three  weeks  and  became  much  interested  in  the  Presi- 
dency. Being  rather  remote  from  the  usual  routes  of 
visitors  it  is  perhaps  less  known,  and  has  been  called 
the  "  Benighted  Presidency,''  but  many  of  the  natives 
are  exceptionally  intelligent,  and  there  appears  to  be 
more  opportunity  than  in  some  other  parts  of  India  of 
seeing  the  Hindu  faith  in  working  order  and  less  affected 
than  elsewhere  by  the  influence  of  the  Mohammedan 
conquerors.  Lord  Connemara's  Private  Secretary,  Mr. 
Eees  (afterwards  Sir  John  Rees,  so  sadly  killed  by 
falling  from  a  train)  was  very  kind  in  securing  two 
Brahmins  of  different  varieties  of  the  Hindu  faith  to 
come  and  talk  to  me  and  explain  their  views — ^both 
spoke  excellent  English.  One  was  a  Munshi  who 
belonged  to  the  "  Advaita "  sect,  which  holds  that 
everything  is  part  of  the  Divinity ;  the  other — an 
ascetic — held  a  refined  form  of  what  is  called  the  "  Sank- 
hya "  philosophy,  which  presupposes  eternal  matter 
with  which  the  Eternal  Mind  unites  itself.  After  all, 
such  fine  drawn  distinctions  are  quite  congenial  to  the 
spirit  of  the  early  Gnostics,  the  Schoolmen  of  the 
Middle  Ages,  and  even  to  Christians  of  to-day  who  are 
ready  to  start  fresh  communities  from  differences  on 

162 


BRAHMIN   PHILOSOPHERS  1G3 

tenets  which  seem  to  the  ordinary  mind  without  practical 
bearing  on  tlie  Two  Great  Commandments. 

To  return  to  my  Brahmin  friends.  Both  those  here 
mentioned  and  others  to  whom  I  have  spoken  claim  a 
faith  certainly  different  from  the  vast  mass  of  the 
Indian  peoples.  They  claim  to  believe  in  One  God,  and 
say  that  all  proceed  from  Him  and  that  all  effort  should 
be  directed  to  reabsorption  into  Him.  Good  acts  tend 
to  this  result  by  the  gradual  purification  in  successive 
incarnations  of  "  Karma/'  which  may  perhaps  be  de- 
scribed as  the  residuum  of  unconquered  passions  and 
unexpiated  sins  after  death.  When  the  Munshi  was 
explaining  this  theory  of  upward  progress  Mr.  Rees 
asked  him  what  happened  to  devil- worshippers  and  such 
like  out-caste  races.  "  They  go  to  hell,"  was  the  prompt 
reply.  Observing  my  look  of  surprise,  Ramiah  hastened 
to  add,  "  Oh,  we  have  plenty  of  hells,  twenty,  thirty, 
forty  " — evidently  thinking  that  I  was  astounded  not 
at  the  sweeping  perdition  of  his  countrymen,  but  at 
the  probably  overcrowded  condition  of  the  infernal 
regions. 

Shiva,  Vishnu,  and  the  other  gods  and  goddesses 
adored  by  the  populace  were  regarded  by  the  illuminati 
as  embodiments  of  various  divine  attributes,  or  incar- 
nations to  reveal  the  divine  will  and  to  deliver  men  from 
evil.  There  seemed  no  unwillingness  to  accept  Christ 
in  some  such  way  as  this.  As  one  said  to  me,  "  I  do 
not  know  His  history  as  well  as  1  know  my  own  sacred 
books,  but  if  what  is  told  of  Him  is  true,  I  believe  that 
he  must  have  been  a  saint,  if  not  a  Divine  Incarnation." 
Another  thought  that  each  race  had  its  own  revelation. 
"  We,"  he  said,  "  have  Krishna,  you  have  Christ.  You 
say  that  your  Christ  was  crucified — our  Krishna  was 
shot." 


164    MADRAS,   CALCUTTA,   AND  BENARES    [ch.  viii 

To  an  inquiry  why  if  their  own  faith  was  so  elevated 
they  left  the  masses  to  idol- worship  I  had  the  crushing 
reply  :    "  Ignorant  people  and  females  cannot  at  once 
comprehend  the  universal  presence.     We  teach  them 
first  that  God  is  in  the  image — so  He  is,  for  He  is  every- 
where— and  from  that  we  go  on   to  explain  that  He 
pervades  the  universe."     I  asked  my  ascetic    friend, 
Parthasaradi,  whether  in  that  case  they  might  find  the 
deity  in  the  leg  of  a  table — to  which  he  retorted  with 
Tyndall's  views  about  the  mutability  of  atoms,  from 
which   he   deduced   that    being   everywhere   He    was 
certainly  also  in  the  leg  of   the  table — and   he  cited 
Roman   Catholic   teaching   on   his   side   as    justifying 
idol-worship.     Parthasaradi  had  a  marvellous  store  of 
quotations  from  Tyndall,  Leibnitz,  Matthew  Arnold, 
and  others  at  his  fingers'  ends.     He  kindly  said  that  if 
I  were  as  good  as  my  creed  he  would  be  satisfied,  and 
hoped  that  I  would  be  content  if  he  were  as  good  as 
his.     He  had  catechised  Mr.  Rees  about  me  before  he 
would  condescend  to  talk  to  me,  as  he  did  not  think 
that  "  European  females  ''  were  generally  sufficiently 
interested  in  Hindu  religion  to  make  them  worthy  of 
his  expositions.     He  had  been  a  Vakil  of   the  High 
Court,  but  had  given  up  his  position  to  embrace  an 
ascetic  life,  and  had  devoted  his  property  to  founding 
a  library,  only  reserving  enough  for   himself  and  his 
wife  to  live  upon.     His  wife  had  become  a  sort  of  nun. 
He  was  a  curious-looking  man  with  long  shaggy  black 
hair   and   very   white   teeth — rather   handsome.      His 
costume  consisted  of  a  cotton  dhoti  (cloth)  of  doubtful 
whiteness  wrapped  round  his  legs  and   a  green  shawl 
twisted  about  his  body.     There  is   no  doubt  that  he 
was  very  earnest  in  his  faith  in  the  Almighty,  and  I 
was  really  touched  by  his  appeal  one  day  to  Mr.  Rees, 


FAITH   OF   EDUCATED   HINDUS  165 

who  chanced  to  be  present  at  a  visit  which  he  paid  me. 
Mr.  Rees  told  him  that  he  was  so  eloquent  that  he 
almost  converted  him  to  the  need  for  greater  religion. 
Whereupon  said  the  ascetic,  with  evident  emotion  : 
"  Why  don't  you  come  at  once  ?  You  need  not  wait 
for  an  invitation  as  to  a  Governor's  hrcakfaM."  He 
spoke  just  like  a  member  of  the  Salvation  Anuy,  and 
I  am  sure  with  an  equally  genuine  feeling.  It  would 
be  absurd  to  generalise  from  a  superficial  acquaintance 
with  India,  but  it  seemed  to  me  from  conversation  with 
these  and  other  educated  Indians  that,  while  quite 
willing  to  accept  the  high  Christian  morality  and  also 
to  profit  from  the  education  in  Christian  schools,  work- 
ing out  a  man's  own  salvation  appealed  to  them  more 
than  the  doctrine  of  Atonement. 

The  Dewan  Kao  Behadur  Kanta  Chunder,  a  highly 
intelligent  man  whom  we  met  later  on  at  Jeypore, allowed 
that  the  Atonement  was  his  stumbling-block.  He 
had  been  educated  in  a  Mission  School  and  had  a  great 
respect  and  affection  for  the  Principal,  but  he  was  not 
a  professing  Christian.  He  said  that  he  believed  in 
one  God,  but  was  obliged  to  continue  Shiva- worship 
to  please  his  mother.  I  hope  that  he  received  the  same 
dispensation  as  Naaman  !  He  further  said  that  he 
believed  in  the  transmigration  of  souls,  but  thought 
that  all  spirits  would  ultimately  return  to  the  Great 
Spirit  whence  they  came. 

I  asked  this  Dewan  about  a  point  on  which  I  was 
curious — namely,  whether  as  a  child,  before  he  came 
under  Mission  influence,  his  Hindu  faith  had  a  practical 
influence  on  his  daily  conduct.  "  Oh,  yes,"  he  said  ; 
"  if  1  did  anything  wrong  I  was  quite  frightened  of  the 
images  of  the  gods  in  the  house  " — so  I  suppose  they 
have  a  real  effect,  Ijut  no  one  seemed  to  think  that 
12 


166  IMADRAS,    CALCUTTA,    AND    BENARES  [ch.  viii 

anything  made  the  native  Indian  truthful !  However, 
it  is  to  be  feared  that  with  the  majority  even  of  Christians 
truth  is  not  a  primary  virtue. 

To  return  to  Madras  and  our  adventures  there.  I  do 
not  attempt  descriptions  of  the  cities  or  scenery  which 
we  visited.  Much  as  we  enjoyed  such  sights,  they 
are  fully  described  in  guide  books,  and  I  keep  to  our 
personal  experiences.  The  length  of  our  visit  to  Madras 
was  partly  due  to  unfortunate  circumstances  which  it 
is  unnecessary  to  detail  at  length,  though  they  have 
since  in  broad  outline  become  public  property.  Briefly, 
shortly  after  our  arrival  Lady  Connemara,  who  had 
been  staying  at  Ootacamund,  arrived  at  Government 
House  accompanied  by  the  doctor  and  one  of  the  staff. 
The  following  day  she  migrated  to  an  hotel  just  as  a 
large  dinner-party  was  arriving,  and  we  had  to  conceal 
her  absence  on  plea  of  indisposition. 

After  several  days'  absence  and  much  negotiation 
she  consented  to  return — but  Lord  Connemara  implored 
us  to  remain  while  she  was  away,  and  even  after  she 
came  back,  to  help  him  look  after  his  guests,  particularly 
some  who  came  to  stay  in  the  house.  We  were  rather 
amused,  when  later  on  we  visited  the  Prendergasts 
at  Baroda,  to  discover  that  Sir  Harry  Prendergast 
and  his  daughters,  who  had  stayed  at  Government  House 
in  the  midst  of  the  trouble,  had  never  discovered 
that  Lady  Connemara  was  not  there,  but  thought  that 
she  was  ill  in  her  own  rooms  all  the  time  !  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  some  of  us  must  have  been  rather 
like  the  policeman  before  the  magistrate  of  whom  the 
cabman  said  "  I  won't  go  for  to  say  that  the  gentleman 
is  telling  a  lie,  but  he  handles  the  truth  rather  care- 
lessly." I  fear  that  we  must  have  handled  the  truth 
rather  carelessly. 


THEOSOPHISTS   AT   ADYAR  167 

Fortunately  the  native  servants  could  not  speak 
English,  and  the  better  class  natives  in  the  city  behaved 
extraordinarily  well  in  wishing  to  keep  things  quiet 
as  far  as  possible.  Anyhow,  Lady  Connemara  came 
back  for  a  time,  and  ultimately— some  time  in  the 
following  year,  I  think — returned  to  England.  The 
end,  as  is  well  known,  was  a  divorce.  She  married 
the  doctor,  and  Lord  Connemara  a  rich  widow — a 
Mrs.  Coleman.  They  are  all  dead  now  and  the  causes 
of  dispute  do  not  matter ;  they  may  be  summed  up 
with  the  old  formula,  "  Faults  on  both  sides." 

The  delay  was  rather  tiresome  for  us,  as  we  had 
planned  to  get  to  Calcutta  well  before  Christmas,  but 
on  the  other  hand  it  enabled  us  to  see  a  good  deal  that 
we  could  not  have  done  in  the  short  time  which  we 
had  originally  destined  to  the  Presidency,  and  Lord 
Connemara  and  his  staff  did  everything  for  our  enter- 
tainment. 

Among  other  excursions  we  had  an  amusing  visit 
to  our  ship  acquaintance.  Colonel  Olcott,  at  the  head- 
quarters, or  Library,  of  the  Theosophical  Society  at 
Adyar.  Adyar  is  a  pretty  place,  and  there  are  nice 
shady  drives  near  it  with  banyan,  tamarind,  and  other 
trees.  As  we  approached  we  saw  a  large  bungalow 
on  the  top  of  a  small  hill,  and  noticed  a  number  of 
people  seated  in  the  verandah.  It  was  evident  that 
they  saw  us  from  their  elevation,  but  it  did  not  seem 
to  have  struck  them  that  we  could  also  see  them  from 
below.  Wlien  we  arrived  at  the  door  everyone  had 
disappeared  except  Colonel  Olcott,  who  was  seated  in 
an  attitude  of  abstraction,  but  jumped  up  holding  out 
his  hands  and  expressing  great  jileasure  at  our  visit. 

We  were  taken  into  a  long  hall,  hung  round  with 
the    shields   of    the    various   theosophical    Lodges    in 


168  MADRAS,    CALCUTTA,    AND    BENARES  [ch.  viii 

India  and  elsewhere.  There  were  several  rooms, 
and  as  we  were  shown  into  them  the  people  whom  we 
had  seen  on  the  verandah  were  either  "  discovered  " 
or  "  entered  "  like  actors  on  a  stage,  and  duly  intro- 
duced :  "A  Russian  Countess  " — the  "  Countess  of 
Jersey  "  ;  "a  Japanese  nobleman  " — the  "  Earl  of 
Jersey."  We  were  shown  the  doors  of  Kathiawar 
wood  rather  well  carved,  and  beyond  there  was  a  kind 
of  Sanctuary  with  two  large  paintings  of  Mahatmas 
behind  doors  like  those  of  a  Roman  Catholic  altar- 
piece.  I  believe  that  it  was  behind  those  doors  that 
Madame  Blavatsky  was  supposed  to  have  performed  a 
miracle  with  broken  tea-cups,  but  I  am  not  clear  as  to 
details  and  Colonel  Olcott  was  too  cute  to  attempt 
to  foist  the  story  upon  us.  What  he  did  tell  us  was  that 
the  artist  Schmiechen  painted  the  Mahatmas  without 
having  seen  them,  implying  some  kind  of  inspiration. 
We  happened  to  know  Schmiechen,  as  he  had  painted 
several  of  our  family,  so  when  we  were  back  in  England 
I  remarked  that  I  had  seen  the  pictures  which  he  had 
painted  without  having  seen  the  subjects.  "  Yes," 
said  he,  "  but  I  had  very  good  photographs  of  them  !  " 
Olcott  told  us  that  he  intended  to  have  portraits 
of  the  Founders  of  all  religions  in  this  Sanctuary,  but 
so  far  the  only  companion  of  the  Mahatmas  was  a 
photograph  of  Paracelsus.  He,  however,  produced 
another  photograph  from  somewhere  and  bade  me 
prepare  to  respect  a  bishop.  The  bishop  proved  to 
be  black  !  Poor  Olcott !  He  made  another  attempt 
to  convert  me  while  at  Madras  by  lending  me  copies  of 
a  rather  colourless  magazine — always  assuring  me  that 
his  Society  was  in  no  sense  anti-Christian.  When  he 
called  to  see  the  effect  which  this  publication  had  had 
upon  me  I  remarked  that  I  had  read  not  only    the 


THE   RANEES   OF  TRAVANCORE  169 

magazine,  but  its  advertisements,  which  advertised 
distinctly  anti-Christian  books.  He  turned  the  colour 
of  beetroot,  for  he  had  never  thought  of  the  advertise- 
ments. 

While  we  were  at  Madras  the  then  Maharajah  of 
Travancore  was  invested  with  the  insignia  of  the  Grand 
Cross  of  the  Star  of  India.  He  was  a  gorgeous  figure 
wearing  over  a  long  coat  of  cloth-of-gold  with  small 
green  spangles  the  pale-blue  satin  cloak  of  the  Order, 
which  cost  him  two  thousand  rupees  at  Calcutta.  His 
white  turban  was  adorned  with  beautiful  emeralds. 
The  right  of  succession  in  Travancore  is  peculiar, 
being  transmitted  to  males  through  females.  As  there 
were  no  directly  royal  females  in  1857,  this  Maharajah's 
uncle  adopted  two  Ranees  to  be  "  Mothers  of  Princes." 
The  elder  Ranee  was  charming  and  highly  educated, 
but  unfortunately  had  no  children,  and  her  husband, 
though  a  clever  man  (perhaps  too  clever  !)  got  into 
difficulties  and  was  banished.  The  Ranee  declined  all 
the  suggestions  of  her  friends  that  she  should  divorce 
him,  and  her  constancy  was  rewarded  by  his  recall  to 
her  side.  This  marital  fidelity  pleased  Queen  Victoria 
so  much  that  she  sent  the  Princess  a  decoration. 

The  younger  Ranee  had  two  sons,  of  whom  one, 
called  the  First  Prince,  was  considered  Heir  Presumptive 
and  was  present  at  the  Investiture.  He  did  not  strike 
me  as  much  of  a  man,  and  he  and  the  Maharajah  were 
reported  not  to  be  on  friendly  terms.  Ladies  marry 
in  Travancore  by  accepting  a  cloth  (i.e.  sari)  from  a 
man — if  they  do  not  like  him  they  have  only  to  send 
it  back,  which  constitutes  a  divorce. 

Sir  Mount  Stuart  (Jranl  DiilT,  when  (governor  of 
Madras,  was  admiring  the  embroidered  cloth  of  one  of 
these  Travancore  ladies  and   innocently  said  that  he 


170  MADRAS,    CALCUTTA,    AND    BENARES  [ch.  viii 

would  like  to  send  her  a  cloth  from  Madras  as  a  specimen 
of  the  handiwork  executed  there.,  to  which  she  promptly 
retorted  that  she  was  much  obliged,  but  that  she  was 
quite  satisfied  with  her  present  husband. 

Although  I  refrain  from  descriptions  in  a  general 
way,  I  must  include  some  reference  to  a  journey  in  the 
southern  part  of  the  Presidency  which  Lord  Connemara 
kindly  arranged  for  us,  as  it  is  less  well  known  than 
Madras  itself  and  other  cities  generally  visited.  Also 
this  part  of  the  country  will  doubtless  change  rapidly, 
if  it  has  not  already  done  so. 

A  long  day's  journey  took  us  to  Tanjore,  where  the 
temporary  District  Judge,  Mr.  Fawcett,  was  good 
enough  to  receive  us  in  his  bungalow  and  show  us  the 
sights.  The  great  Temple  rejoices  in  the  name  of 
Bahadeeswara-swami-kovil  and  is  said  to  have  been 
built  in  the  eleventh  century.  The  Gopuram  or  great 
pyramidical  tower,  216  feet  from  the  base  to  the  top  of 
the  gilded  Kalasum,  which  takes  the  place  of  our  Cross, 
is  most  imposing.  It  is  covered  with  carvings,  and 
amongst  them  we  were  shown  the  head  and  bust  of  an 
Englishman  in  a  round  hat  commonly  called  "  John 
Bright."  The  attendants  point  to  this  with  pride, 
saying  that  it  was  put  there  when  the  temple  was 
originally  built,  on  account  of  a  prophecy  that  the 
English  would  one  day  possess  the  land.  We  were 
struck  by  the  wonderful  foresight  of  the  Hindu  prophets 
in  the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror,  as  they  foretold 
not  only  the  advent  of  the  English,  but  also  their 
costume  800  years  after  the  date  of  the  prophecy. 

The  Sivajee  dynasty  had  ruled  that  part  of  the 
country  till  a  Rajah  called  Serfojee  ceded  his  territory 
to  the  British.  His  granddaughter,  the  senior  lady  of 
his  son  Sevajee,  was  the  last  real  Princess  of  the  family. 


THE   PRINCESSES   OF  TANJORE  171 

She  was  dead  before  the  date  of  our  visit,  but  some 
ladies  of  the  zenaua  still  lingered  on  in  the  Palace. 
Some  years  after  our  visit  Lord  Dufferin  told  me  of  his 
experiences  at  Tan j ore.  As  Viceroy  he  was  admitted  to 
the  zenana,  though  of  course  other  men  could  not 
ent^r.  He  was  shown  into  a  large,  dimly  lighted  room 
at  the  end  of  which  was  a  Chair  of  State  covered  with 
red  cloth.  The  attendants  made  signs  for  him  to 
approach  the  chair,  and  he  was  just  about  to  take  his 
seat  upon  it  when  he  suddenly  perceived  a  small  figure 
wrapped  in  the  red  cloth.  He  had  been  about  to  sit 
down  on  the  Princess  ! 

We  did  not  see  the  ladies,  but  we  visited  the  large 
rambling  Palace,  in  which  were  three  very  fine  halls. 
One  was  rather  like  a  church,  with  a  nave  and  two 
narrow  side  aisles,  and  two  rows  of  dim  windows  one 
above  the  other.  This  appeared  to  be  utilised  as  a 
Museum  with  very  miscellaneous  contents.  There 
was  a  silver-plated  canopy  intended  to  be  held 
over  bridal  pairs — and  a  divan  on  which  were  placed 
portraits  ot  Queen  Victoria  and  the  late  Ranee  attended 
by  large  dolls  or  figures  presumably  representing 
members  of  the  Sivajee  family.  All  about  the  halls 
were  cheap  ornaments,  photographs,  and,  carefully 
framed,  an  advertisement  of  Coats'  sewing  cotton ! 
Another  hall  contained  a  fine  statue  of  Serfojee  by 
Flaxman,  a  bust  of  Nelson,  and  a  picture  representing 
the  head  of  (.'live  with  mourners  for  his  death. 

There  was  also  an  interesting  library  with  many 
Sanscrit  and  other  manuscripts.  One  book  in  parti- 
cular, full  of  paintings  of  elephants  executed  for  Serfojee, 
was  really  amusing.  Towards  the  beginning  was  a 
picture  of  angelic  white  elephants,  and  oilier  black, 
red,  and  purple  elephants  till  with  wings.     An  attendant 


172  MADRAS,    CALCUTTA,    AND    BENARES  [ch.  viii 

declared  that  elephants  supported  the  various  quarters 
of  the  globe  and  used  to  have  wings,  but  one  day  in 
flying  they  fell  down  upon  a  Rishi  (Saint)  and  disturbed 
his  devotions,  whereupon  he  induced  the  gods  to  deprive 
them  of  their  flying  powers.  It  is  always  dangerous  to 
offend  Saints. 

From  Tan j ore  a  night's  journey  took  us  to  Madura, 
where  we  stayed  with  Mr.  Turner,  the  Collector  of  the 
District,  in  an  interesting  and  remarkable  house.  At 
the  time  of  our  visit  it  belonged  to  the  Johnston  family, 
but  they  let  it  to  the  Government  that  the  rent  might  pay 
for  a  Scholarship  at  the  Madras  College.  The  principal 
living-room  was  rather  like  a  church,  having  forty 
columns  in  it,  and,  the  floor  being  on  different  levels 
and  divided  in  various  ways,  it  served  for  sitting- 
room,  dining-,  and  billiard-room.  From  one  corner  a 
winding  staircase  led  to  a  terrace  from  which  opened 
bedrooms.  Below  the  living-room  were  vaults  or 
dungeons  where  wild  beasts  and  prisoners  were 
confined  in  the  old  days  when  the  house  was  a  sort  of 
Summer  Palace.  In  one  of  these  vaults  tradition  said 
that  a  queen  was  starved  to  death. 

My  bedroom,  a  very  large  room,  was  rendered  addition- 
ally attractive  as  having  been  the  temporary  resting-place 
of  the  heart  of  Montrose,  enclosed  in  a  little  steel  case 
made  of  the  blade  of  his  sword.  Lord  Napier  of 
Merchiston,  descended  from  Montrose's  nephew,  gave 
this  to  his  daughter  (afterwards  Mrs.  Johnston)  on  his 
death-bed,  1773,  in  a  gold  filigree  box  of  Venetian  work- 
manship. When  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnston  were  on  their 
way  to  India  their  ship  was  attacked  by  a  French  frigate 
and  Mr.  Johnston  with  the  captain's  permission  took 
charge  of  four  quarter-deck  guns.  Mrs.  Johnston  refused 
to  leave  her  husband  and  remained  on  deck  holding  her 


"THE   HEART  OF  MONTROSE"  173 

son,  aged  five,  by  one  hand  and  in  the  other  a  large 
velvet  reticule  including,  with  several  treasures,  the 
gold  filigree  box.  A  shot  wounded  the  lady's  arm, 
bruised  the  child's  hand,  knocked  down  the  father,  and 
shattered  the  filigree  box,  but  the  steel  case  with  the 
heart  resisted  the  blow. 

Arrived  at  Madura  Mrs.  Johnston  employed  a  native 
goldsmith  to  make  a  filigree  box  after  the  pattern  of 
that  which  was  damaged,  and  also  a  silver  urn  in  which 
it  was  placed  and  which  stood  on  an  ebony  table  in  the 
then  drawing-room.  The  natives  soon  started  a  legend 
that  the  urn  contained  a  talisman,  and  that  whoever 
possessed  it  could  never  be  wounded  in  battle  or 
taken  prisoner.  Owing  to  this  report  it  was  stolen, 
and  for  some  time  could  not  be  traced,  but  at  last  Mrs. 
Johnston  learnt  that  it  had  been  purchased  by  a  neigh- 
bouring chief  for  a  large  sum  of  money. 

Mr.  A.  Johnston,  her  son,  in  a  letter  to  his  daughters 
dated  1836  and  published  as  an  appendix  to  Napier's 
Life  of  Montrose,  relates  the  particulars  which  he  had 
heard  from  his  mother,  and  further  his  own  experiences, 
which  give  an  impression  of  very  familiar  friendship 
between  English  and  natives  in  days  when  the  former 
were  largely  isolated  from  intercourse  with  home. 

Young  Alexander  Johnston  was  sent  each  year  by 
his  father  during  the  hunting  season  to  stay  with  one  or 
other  of  the  neighbouring  chiefs  for  four  months 
together  to  acquire  the  different  languages  and  native 
gymnastic  exercises.  On  one  occasion  he  was  hunting 
in  company  with  the  chief  who  was  supposed  to  have 
the  urn,  and  distinguislied  himself  by  so  wounding  a 
wild  hog  that  his  companion  was  enabled  to  dispatch 
it.  Complimenting  the  youth  on  his  bravery,  the 
chief  asked  in  what  way  he  could  recognise  his  prowess. 


174     MADRAS,  CALCUTTA,  AND  BENARES    [ch.  viii 

Young  Johnston  thereupon  told  the  history  of  the 
urn  and  its  contents,  and  begged  the  great  favour  of 
its  restoration  to  his  mother  if  it  were  really  in  his 
friend's  possession.  The  chivalrous  native  replied  that 
he  had  indeed  purchased  it  for  a  large  sum,  not  knowing 
that  it  was  stolen  from  Mrs,  Johnston,  and  added  that 
one  brave  man  should  always  attend  to  the  wishes  of 
another  brave  man  no  matter  of  what  country  or 
religion,  and  that  he  felt  it  a  duty  to  carry  out  that 
brave  man's  wish  who  desired  that  his  heart  should  be 
kept  by  his  descendants.  With  Oriental  magnanimity 
he  accompanied  the  restored  heart  with  rich  presents  to 
the  youth  and  his  mother. 

In  after  years  this  chief  rebelled  against  the  authority 
of  the  Nabob  of  Arcot,  was  conquered  by  the  aid  of 
English  troops,  and  executed  with  many  members  of 
his  family.  He  behaved  with  undaunted  courage,  and 
on  hearing  that  he  was  to  die,  at  once  alluded, to  the 
story  of  the  urn  and  expressed  the  hope  that  his  heart 
would  be  preserved  by  those  who  cared  for  him,  in  the 
same  way  as  that  of  the  European  warrior. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Johnston  returned  to  Europe  in  1792, 
and  being  in  France  when  the  Revolutionary  Govern- 
ment required  the  surrender  of  all  gold  and  silver 
articles  in  private  possession,  they  entrusted  the  urn 
and  its  contents  to  an  Englishwoman  at  Boulogne,  who 
promised  to  secrete  it.  Unfortunately  she  died  shortly 
afterwards,  and  the  Johnstons  were  never  able  to  trace 
the  lost  treasure. 

Mr.  Alexander  Johnston  adds  that  he  ultimately 
received  from  the  French  Government  the  value  of  the 
plate  and  jewels  which  his  parents  had  been  compelled 
to  give  up  to  the  Calais  municipality.  It  is,  however, 
unlikely  that  he  would  have  recovered  the  heart  thirty 


THE   PALACE   OF  IMADURA  175 

or  forty  years  afterwards — unless  indeed  Mrs.  Johnston 
had  kept  it  in  its  little  steel  case  and  surrendered  the 
um. 

The  old  Palace  at  Madura  is  a  fine  building,  now  used 
for  a  court  of  justice.  At  the  time  of  our  visit  recol- 
lections of  the  Prince  of  Wales  (Edward  VII)  still  pre- 
vailed. When  he  arrived  at  the  Palace  a  row  of 
elephants  was  stationed  on  either  side  of  the  court  on 
to  which  the  principal  buildings  opened.  All  the 
elephants  duly  salaamed  at  a  given  signal  except  one — 
perhaps  inoculated  with  Bolshevik  principles.  Where- 
upon the  stage-manager  of  the  proceedings  called  out 
in  Tamil  to  the  mahout  of  the  recalcitrant  animal,  "  I 
fine  you  five  rupees  !  " 

One  of  the  purdah  Ranees  still  occupied  a  side  room 
of  the  Palace,  and  our  host  Mr.  Turner  with  another 
man  was  stationed  to  guard  the  door.  The  Prince, 
however,  feeling  that  '*  nice  customs  curtsy  to  great 
kings,"  put  them  aside  and  entered  the  apartment  with 
all  his  suite.  The  Ranee  was  much  flurried  at  first,  but 
finally  fascinated,  and  afterwards  gave  him  a  handsome 
necklace. 

From  delightful  terraces  on  the  Palace  roof  you  get 
an  extensive  \new  of  the  town  and  surrounding  country. 
There  are  two  fine  hills,  one  called  SecundermuUai,  as 
Alexander  the  Great  is  supposed  to  have  camped  there, 
the  other  Elephantmullai,  from  a  legend  that  the  Chola 
(Tanjore)  King's  magician  made  him  a  gigantic  elephant, 
but  the  Pandyan  (Madura)  King's  magician  changed  it 
into  a  mountain.  As  the  mountain  bears  a  decided 
resemblance  to  an  elephant,  who  will  doubt  the  tale  ? 

The  most  striking  feature  of  Madura  is  the  immense 
Temple,  of  which  the  size,  the  decorations,  and  the 
wealth  displayed  arc  impressive  evidence  of  the  vitality 


176  MADRAS,    CALCUTTA,    AND    BENARES  [ch.  viii 

of  the  Hindu  faith.  Four  gopurams  or  towers  guard 
the  entrances  to  the  halls,  galleries,  arcades,  and  courts 
within  the  sacred  precincts.  One  hall  is  called  the  Hall 
of  a  Thousand  Pillars  and  is  said  really  to  contain  997. 
In  the  galleries  are  colossal  figures  of  dragons,  gods, 
goddesses,  and  heroes,  groups  being  often  carved  out 
of  one  gigantic  monolith. 

The  presiding  deity  is  Minachi,  the  old  Dra vidian 
fish-goddess  adopted  by  the  Brahmins  as  identical 
with  Parvati,  wife  of  Siva.  The  Brahmins  constantly 
facilitated  the  conversion  of  the  lower  races  to  their 
faith  by  admitting  their  tutelar  deities  to  the  Hindu 
Pantheon.  The  great  flag-staff  of  Minachi  (alias 
Parvati)  is  overlaid  with  gold.  There  are  a  thousand 
Brahmins  and  attendants  employed  about  the  Temple, 
which  has  an  annual  income  of  70,000  rupees,  and 
shortly  before  our  visit  the  Nattukottai  Chetties  or 
native  money-lenders  had  spent  40,000  rupees  on  the 
fabric. 

The  Treasury  contains  stores  of  jewels,  particularly 
sapphires,  and  "  vehicles '"  for  the  gods  in  the  form  of 
elephants,  cows,  lions,  or  peacocks  constructed  of,  or 
overlaid  with,  gold  or  silver  of  fine  workmanship.  Two 
cows,  late  additions,  were  pointed  out  to  us  as  having 
cost  17,000  rupees. 

The  Chetties  are  an  immensely  wealthy  caste,  and 
lavish  money  in  building  both  temples  and  commodious 
houses  for  themselves.  At  one  corner  of  the  latter 
they  put  a  large  figure  of  an  Englishman  attended  by 
a  small  native,  at  another  an  Englishwoman  in  a  crino- 
line and  with  rather  short  petticoat.  They  evidently 
like  to  propitiate  the  powers  both  seen  and  unseen. 

Before  the  Prince  of  Wales's  visit  the  Collector  asked 
them  to  contribute  a  specified  sum  towards  the  fund 


ROUS  PETERS  SACRED  DOOR      177 

being  raised  for  his  entertainment.  They  refused, 
but  offered  so  much  less.  They  were  then  shut  up  in 
a  place  enclosed  with  palisades,  while  a  series  of  notes 
and  messages  was  interchanged  with  tliem.  They 
were  much  amused  by  the  proceedings,  which  they 
evidently  regarded  as  the  proper  method  of  negotiation, 
and  kept  refusing  with  roars  of  laughter,  till  feeling 
that  they  had  played  the  game  long  enough,  they 
consented  to  give  the  sum  originally  asked  and  were 
released. 

Among  the  many  objects  of  interest  in  the  temple 
one  of  the  quaintest  was  a  door  dedicated  to  a  former 
Collector  called  Rous  Peter,  He  used  to  worship 
Minachi  in  order  to  obtain  any  money  that  he  wanted 
from  the  Pagoda  Treasury  for  the  repair  of  the  roads 
and  other  public  purposes. 

After  his  death  the  Brahmins  placed  him  among  their 
devils,  and  used  to  light  little  lamps  round  the  door 
in  his  honour.  A  devil  was  quite  as  much  respected  as 
a  beneficent  deity,  indeed  it  was  even  more  necessary 
to  keep  him  in  a  good  humour.  Mr.  Peter  unfortunately 
did  not  always  distinguish  between  his  own  and  the 
public  funds  and  finally  poisoned  himself. 

He  had  a  great  friend,  one  Colonel  Fisher,  who  married 
a  native  woman,  and  he  and  Peter  were  buried  side  by 
side  near  the  Pagoda.  Colonel  Fisher's  family  were, 
however,  n(jt  satisfied  with  this  semi-heathen  arrange- 
ment and  later  on  built  a  Christian  church  destined  to 
include  thoir  remains.  Tliere  was  some  little  dilliculty 
with  the  Christian  authorities  about  this,  but  ultimately 
it  was  amicably  settled.  When  we  were  at  Madura 
a  screen  behind  the  altar  shut  off  from  the  rest  of  the 
church  the  part  where  they  were  buried,  to  which  the 
natives  cjiine  with  garlands  to  place  on  Peter's  touil). 


178  MADRAS,    CALCUTTA,    AND    BENARES  [ch.  viii 

As  is  well  known,  such  semi-deification  of  Europeans 
who  had  captivated  Indian  imagination  was  not  un- 
common. We  heard  of  a  colonel  buried  in  another 
part  of  the  Presidency  on  whose  grave  the  natives 
offered  brandy  and  cheroots  as  a  fitting  tribute  to  his 
tastes. 

A  twenty- three  hours'  journey  brought  us  back  to 
Madras  on  the  afternoon  of  December  16th.  We  had 
greatly  enjoyed  our  few  days  in  the  new  world  of 
Southern  India,  and  were  impressed  with  the  hold 
that  the  Hindu  faith  still  had  on  the  population. 

During  the  whole  of  our  stay  at  Madras  Lord  Conne- 
mara  and  his  stafi  made  every  effort  for  our  enjoyment. 
Mr.  Rees  (Private  Secretary)  was  especially  kind  in 
arranging  that  I  should  see,  not  only  the  Public  Museums 
and  other  Institutions,  but  also  some  of  the  private 
houses  to  which  Europeans  were  not  generally  admitted. 
Among  the  excellent  representatives  of  the  British 
Government  were  the  Minister  of  Education,  Mr.  Grigg, 
and  Mrs.  Grigg.  Madras  owes  much  to  them  both — 
the  native  girls  particularly  to  Mrs.  Grigg.  Their  son, 
who  acted  as  one  of  Lord  Connemara's  pages  at  the 
Investiture  of  the  Maharajah  of  Travancore,  is  now 
Sir  Edward  Grigg,  whose  knowledge  of  the  Empire 
has  been  invaluable  to  the  Prince  of  Wales,  and  who 
is  now  Secretary  to  the  Prime  Minister. 

One  of  the  most  prominent  educational  institutions 
at  Madras  was  the  Scottish  Free  Church  Mission  which 
had  a  College  for  boys  and  Schools  for  girls  of  different 
castes.  These  included  some  Christians,  but  there 
was  no  claim  to  any  large  number  of  conversions.  All 
scholars  learnt  to  read  the  Bible,  and  no  doubt  a  good 
system  of  morality  was  inculcated.  I  believe  that 
had  we  gone  to  Trichinopoly  we  should  have  found 


LOYALTY   OF   NATIVE   INDIANS  179 

many  more  Christians.  It  is  much  easier  to  convert 
pariahs  and  low-caste  natives,  numerous  in  Southern 
India,  than  those  of  the  higher  castes,  who  have  to  give 
up  social  position  and  worldly  advantage  if  they  change 
their  faith.  Lord  Connemara  often  received  very 
amusing  correspondence.  One  letter  was  from  a  luck- 
less husband  who  wrote  :  "  Nothing  is  more  unsuitable 
than  for  a  man  to  have  more  than  one  wife.  I  have 
three,  and  I  pray  your  Excellency  to  banish  whichever 
two  you  please  to  the  Andaman  Islands  or  some  other 
distant  comitry." 

When  we  first  visited  India  at  all  events  the  natives 
had  implicit  faith  in  English  power  and  justice  even 
when  their  loyalty  left  something  to  be  desired.  An 
Englishman  was  talking  to  a  man  suspected  of  pro- 
Russian  sympathies,  and  pointed  out  to  him  the  way 
in  which  Russians  treated  their  own  subjects.  "  If 
Russia  took  India,"  he  said,  "  what  would  you  do 
if  a  Russian  tried  to  confiscate  your  property  ?  " 
"  In  that  case,"  was  the  prompt  reply,  "  I  should 
appeal  to  the  High  Court."  For  the  most  part,  how- 
ever, they  were  intensely  loyal  to  the  person  of  the 
Sovereign. 

When  Queen  Victoria's  statue  was  unveiled  at  the 
time  of  the  First  Jubilee  the  natives  came  in  thousands 
to  visit  it,  and  to  "do  poojah,"  presenting  offerings 
of  cocoa-nuts,  etc.  The  statue  was  in  bronze,  and  they 
expressed  great  pleasure  in  finding  that  their  Mother 
was  brown  after  all ;  they  had  hitlierto  imagined  her 
to  be  white  ! 

We  had  arranged  to  sail  from  Madras  to  Calcutta 
by  a  British  India  named  the  Pundua,  which  ought  to 
have  landed  us  there  in  good  time  for  Christmas,  Imt 
our   voyage   had   many   checks.      First   the   hydraulic 


180  MADRAS,    CALCUTTA,    AND    BENARES  [ch.  viii 

unloading  machinery  of  that  **  perfidious  bark  "  went 
wrong,  and  we  were  only  taken  on  board  three  days 
later  than  the  scheduled  time  for  starting.  Starting 
at  all  from  Madras  was  not  particularly  easy  in  those 
days,  for  the  harbour  had  been  constructed  on  a  some- 
what doubtful  principle ;  nature  had  not  done  much 
for  it,  and  the  results  of  science  and  engineering  had 
been  seriously  damaged  by  a  cyclone.  As  Sir  Mount 
Stuart  Grant  Duff  had  sagely  remarked,  "  Any  plan 
is  a  good  one  if  you  stick  to  it,"  but  the  damaged  walls 
were  being  rebuilt  somewhat  tentatively  and  there  was 
no  conviction  as  to  the  ultimate  outcome.  Probably 
there  is  now  a  satisfactory  structure,  but  in  our  time 
there  was  not  much  protection  for  the  boat  which 
carried  us  to  the  Pundua.  Mr.  Rees  was  to  accompany 
us  to  Calcutta,  and  Lord  Connemara  and  Lord  Mars- 
ham  took  us  on  board.  We  had  taken  tender  farewells 
of  all  our  friends  ashore  and  afloat — the  Governor 
had  gone  back  in  his  boat,  when  we  heard  an  explosion 
followed  by  a  fizzing.  A  few  minutes  later  the  captain 
came  up  and  said,  "  Very  sorry,  but  we  cannot  start 
to-day.''  "  What  has  happened  ?  "  "  The  top  of 
the  cylinder  has  blown  off."'  Much  humiliated  we 
had  to  return  with  our  luggage  to  Government  House, 
and  to  appear  at  what  was  called  "  The  Dignity  Ball " 
in  the  evening. 

Next  day  (December  22nd)  we  really  did  get  off ; 
the  wretched  Ptmdua  possessed  three  cylinders,  so  one 
was  disconnected,  and  she  arranged  to  proceed  at  two- 
third  speed  with  the  others.  This  meant  something 
over  nine  knots  an  hour,  and,  after  sticking  on  a  sand- 
bank near  the  mouth  of  the  Hoogli,  we  ultimately 
reached  the  neighbourhood  of  Diamond  Harbour  on 
December  26th,  and  by  means  of  a  Post  Office  boat,  and 


PASSENGERS  ON  THE     'PUNDUA"         181 

train,  reached  Calcutta    and  Government   House  late 
that  evening. 

When  I  went  on  board  the  Pundua  I  was  shown  into 
the  good- sized  "  Ladies  Cabin  "  and  told  that  I  could 
have  that  and  the  adjoining  bathroom  to  myself.     In 
reply  to  my  inquiry  as  to  whether  the  other  ladies  on 
board  would  not  want  it,  I  was  told  that  there  w^as 
only  one  other  lady  and  she  was  not  in  the  habit  of 
using  the  bath  !     This  seemed  queer,  till  I  discovered 
that  she  was  the  heroine  of  one  of  the  tragedies  which 
sometimes  occur  in  the  East.     She  was  the  daughter 
of  a  family  of  mixed  European  and  Indian  parentage. 
The  other  children  were  dusky  but  respectable.     She 
was  white,   and   rather   handsome,   and   fascinated   a 
luckless  young  Englisliman  of  good  family,  who  married 
her,  only  to  discover  that  she  was  extravagant  and 
given  to  flirtation.     They  were  on  their  way  to  a  post — 
tea-planting  if  I  remember  aright — somewhere  to  the 
North  of  India.      When   they  first  left  England  the 
husband  was  very  sea-sick,  and  the  wife  carried  on  a 
violent    flirtation    with    another    passenger    and    was 
also  described  as  swearing  and  drinking.     When  the 
husband   recovered  she  insisted  on  his   shooting  her 
admirer,  and  on  his  declining  tried  to  shoot  her  husband. 
The  capttiin,  however,  seized  the  revolver  and  shut  her 
up  in  a  second-class  cabin.     She  was  only  allowed  to 
dine  with  the  first-class  passengers  on  Christmas  even- 
ing.    Poor  husband  !     I  believe  that  he  was  quite  a 
good  fellow,  but  I  do  not  know  their  subsequent  fate. 
We   also   had   on   board   an   orchid-hunter  who  had 
given  up  the  destination  which  he  had  originally  pro- 
posed to  himself,  because  he  discovered  that  a  rival 
was  going  to  some  new  field  for  exploration,  and  as  lie 
could  not  let  him  have  the  sole  chance  of  discovering 
13 


182     MADRAS,  CALCUTTA,  AND  BENARES    [ch.  vm 

the  beautiful  unknown  flower  of  which  there  were 
rumours,  he  set  off  to  hunt  him.  All  the  material  for 
a  novel,  if  only  the  lady  with  the  revolver  had  formed 
an  alliance,  offensive  and  defensive,  with  the  orchid- 
hunter.  Unfortunately  we  did  not  learn  the  after- 
history  of  any  of  these  fellow-passengers. 

We  were  warmly  welcomed  at  Government  House, 
Calcutta,  by  Lord  and  Lady  Lansdowne.  Lord  Lans- 
downe,  an  old  school  and  college  friend  of  Jersey's,  had 
just  taken  over  the  reins  of  Government  from  Lord 
Dufferin.  Lord  William  Beresford,  another  old  friend 
of  my  husband's,  was  Military  Secretary,  and  Colonel 
Ardagh  Private  Secretary.  Sir  Donald  Mackenzie  Wal- 
lace, who  had  been  so  eminently  successful  as  Private 
Secretary  to  the  late  Viceroy,  was  staying  on  for  a 
short  time  to  place  his  experience  at  the  service  of  the 
new  rulers.  The  aides-de-camp  were  Major  Rowan 
Hamilton,  Captain  Streatfeild,  Captain  Arthur  Paken- 
ham,  Captain  Harbord,  and  Lord  Bingham. 

We  found  that  the  tardy  arrival  of  our  unfortunate 
Pundua  had  not  only  been  a  disappointment  to  ourselves, 
but,  alas  !  a  great  grief  to  many  of  the  Calcutta  ladies, 
as  it  was  bringing  out  their  new  frocks  for  the  Viceroy's 
Christmas  Ball.  I  hope  that  it  proved  a  consolation  to 
many  that  the  Lieutenant-Governor  of  Bengal  gave  a 
ball  at  Belvedere  two  days  after  the  ship  came  in,  when 
no  doubt  the  dresses  were  unpacked.  Lady  Lans- 
downe's  pretty  daughter,  now  Duchess  of  Devonshire, 
was  just  out  and  therefore  able  to  attend  this  ball. 

We  spent  a  few  very  pleasant  days  at  Calcutta  and 
met  various  interesting  people.  Amongst  them  was 
Protap  Chunder  Mozoondar,  Head  of  the  Brahmo 
Somaj  (i.e.  Society  Seeking  God).  He  paid  me  a  special 
visit  to  expound  the  tenets  of  his  Society,  which,  as  is 


THE  BRAHMO   SOMAJ  183 

well  known,  was  founded  by  Babu  Chunder  Sen,  father 
of  the  (Dowager)  Maharanee  of  Kuch  Behar.  Briefly, 
the  ideas  of  the  Society  are  based  on  natural  theology, 
or  the  human  instinct,  which  tells  almost  all  men  that 
there  is  a  God.  The  Brahmo  Somaj  accepts  a  large 
portion  of  the  Holy  Books  of  all  nations,  especially  the 
Vedas  and  the  Bible.  It  acknowledges  Christ  as  a 
Divine  Incarnation  and  Teacher  of  Righteousness,  but 
again  it  does  not  regard  His  atonement  as  necessary  to 
salvation.  My  informant's  view  was  that  Christian 
missionaries  did  not  sufficiently  take  into  account 
Hindu  feelings,  and  enforced  unnecessary  uniformity 
in  dress,  food,  and  outward  ceremonies.  This  is  quite 
possible,  but  it  would  be  difficult  for  a  Christian  mission- 
ary not  to  insist  on  the  Sacraments,  which  form  no 
essential  part  of  the  Brahmo  Somaj  ritual. 

Babu  Chunder  Sen's  own  sermons  or  discourses  in 
England  certainly  go  beyond  a  mere  acknowledgment 
of  Christ  as  a  Teacher  and  express  deep  personal  de- 
votion to  him  and  acceptance  of  His  atonement  in  the 
sense  of  at-one-ment,  or  bringing  together  the  whole 
human  race,  and  he  regards  the  Sacraments  as  a  mystical 
sanctification  of  the  ordinary  acts  of  bathing — so  con- 
genial to  the  Indian — and  eating.  However,  in  some 
such  way  Protap  Clmnder  Mozoondar  seemed  to  think 
that  a  kind  of  Hinduised  Christianity  would  ultimately 
prevail  in  India. 

It  is  impossible  for  an  ordinary  traveller  to  form  an 
opinion  worth  having  on  such  a  point,  but  the  Brahmo 
Somaj,  like  most  religious  bodies,  has  been  vexed  by 
schism.  Babu  Chunder  Sen  among  other  refoniLS 
laid  down  that  girls  should  not  be  given  in  marriage 
before  the  age  of  fourteen,  but  his  own  daughter  was 
married  to  the  wealthy  young  Maharajah  Kim  h  Behar 


184    MADRAS,  CALCUTTA,  AND  BENARES    [ch.  viii 

before  that  age.  Tliis  created  some  prejudice,  though 
the  marriage  was  a  successful  one,  and  she  was  a  highly 
educated  and  attractive  woman.  She  had  a  great 
reverence  for  her  father,  and  in  after  years  gave 
me  some  of  his  works.  Another  pundit,  later  on, 
started  another  Brahmo  Somaj  community  of  his  own. 
The  explanation  of  this  given  to  me  by  Kuch  Behar 
himself  was  that  he  was  a  "  Parti  "  and  that  this  other 
teacher  (whose  name  I  have  forgotten)  wanted  him  to 
marry  his  daughter,  but  he  chose  Miss  Sen  instead  !  I 
fear  that  this  is  not  a  unique  example  of  church  history 
affected  by  social  considerations. 

While  at  Calcutta  we  received  a  telegram  to  say  that 
Villiers  had  reached  Bombay  and  we  met  him  at  Benares 
on  New  Year's  Day,  1889.  He  had  come  out  escorted 
by  a  Mr.  Ormond,  who  wanted  to  come  to  India  with  a 
view  to  work  there  and  was  glad  to  be  engaged  as 
Villiers's  travelling  companion.  Rather  a  curious  in- 
cident was  connected  with  their  voyage.  A  young 
Mr.  S.  C.  had  come  out  on  our  ship  the  Arcadia — on 
Villiers's  ship  a  youth  travelled  who  impersonated  this 
same  man.  The  amusing  part  was  that  a  very  excellent 
couple,  Lord  and  Lady  W.  (both  now  dead),  were  on 
the  same  ship.  Lady  W.  was  an  old  friend  of  Mrs. 
S.  C. — the  real  man's  mother — but,  as  it  happened,  had 
not  seen  the  son  since  his  boyhood.  Naturally  she 
accepted  him  under  the  name  he  had  assumed,  and 
effusively  said  that  she  had  nursed  him  on  her  knee  as  a 
child.  The  other  passengers  readily  accepted  him  as 
the  boy  who  had  been  nursed  on  Lady  W.'s  knee,  and 
it  was  not  until  he  had  landed  in  India  that  suspicion 
became  excited  by  the  fact  that  there  were  two  S.  C.'s. 
in  the  field  and  that  number  Two  wished  to  raise  funds 
on  his  personality.     This  assumption  of  someone  else's 


MAHARAJAH   OF   BENARES  186 

name  is  coniinon  enough,  and  every  traveller  must 
have  come  across  instances,  but  it  was  rather  funny 
that  our  son  and  ourselves  should  have  travelled  with 
the  respective  claimants. 

At  Benares  we  were  taken  in  hand  by  a  retired  official 
— a  Jain — rejoicing  in  the  name  of  Rajah  Shiva  Prashad. 
We  stayed  at  Clark's  Hotel,  while  Shiva  Prashad  showed 
us  all  the  well-known  sights  of  the  Holy  City,  and 
also  took  us  to  pay  a  formal  visit  to  the  "  Maharajah 
of  the  'people  of  Benares."  It  is  curious  that  the 
Maharajah  should  have  adopted  that  name,  just  as 
Louis  Philippe  called  himself  "  King  of  the  French  " 
rather  than  "  of  France  "  to  indicate  less  absolute 
power.  The  Maharajah's  modesty  was  due  to  the  fact 
that  Shiva  is  supposed  to  uphold  Benares  on  his  trident, 
and  bears  the  name  of  "  Mahadeva  " — Great  God,  or 
Ruler  of  the  City — so  the  earthly  potentate  can  only 
look  after  the  people — not  claim  the  city  itself. 

The  Maharajah's  Palace  was  on  the  river  in  a  kind  of 
suburb  called  Ramnagar,  to  which  we  were  taken  on  a 
barge.  \\'e  were  received  at  the  water- steps  by  a 
Babu  seneschal,  at  the  Castle  steps  by  the  Maharajah's 
grandson,  and  at  the  door  of  a  hall,  or  outer  room,  by 
the  Maharajah  himself — a  fine  old  man  with  spectacles. 
It  was  all  very  feudal ;  we  were  seated  in  due  state  in 
the  drawing-room,  and  after  some  polite  conversation, 
translated  by  our  friend  the  Rajah,  who  squatted  on 
the  floor  at  the  Maharajah's  feet,  we  were  entertained 
with  native  music  and  nautrh-dancing.  After  we  had 
taken  leave  of  our  host  we  inspected  his  tigers,  kept,  I 
suppose,  as  an  emblem  of  his  rank.  Shiva  Prashad 
told  UH  a  romantic  tale  of  his  own  life,  accprding  to 
whifh  he  first  entered  the  service  of  the  Maharajah  of 
Bhurtpore,   l>ut   was  disgusted    by   the    cruelty    which 


186    MADRAS,  CALCUTTA,  AND  BENARES     [ch.  viii 

he  saw  exercised — prisoners  thrown  into  miserable 
pits,  and  only  given  water  mixed  with  salt  to  drink.  He 
left  the  Maharajah,  and  thought  of  becoming  an  ascetic, 
but  being  taunted  by  his  relatives  for  his  failure  in  life, 
he  (rather  like  St.  Christopher)  determined  to  enter  the 
service  of  someone  "  greater  than  the  Maharajah.''  He 
discovered  this  superior  power  in  the  British  Government, 
which  gave  him  an  appointment  in  the  Persian  Depart- 
ment. 

While  there  he  somehow  found  himself  with  Lord 
Hardinge  and  three  thousand  men  arrayed  against 
sixty  thousand  Sikhs.  The  Council  of  War  recommended 
falling  back  and  waiting  for  reinforcements,  "  but  Lord 
Hardinge  pronounced  these  memorable  words — '  We 
must  fight  and  conquer  or  fall  here."  "  They  fought — 
and  first  one  three  thousand,  then  another  three  thou- 
sand friendly  troops  joined  in,  so  the  Homeric  combat 
ended  in  their  favour,  and  Prashad  himself  was  employed 
as  a  spy.  Afterwards  he  retired  to  the  more  peaceful 
occupation  of  School  Inspector,  and  when  we  knew  him 
enjoyed  a  pension  and  landed  property. 

He  posed  as  a  perfect  specimen  of  a  happy  and  con- 
tented man,  and  had  much  to  say  about  the  excellence 
of  the  British  Raj  and  the  ignorance  and  prejudice  of 
his  own  countrymen,  whom  he  said  we  could  not  under- 
stand as  we  persisted  in  comparing  them  with  Europeans 
— that  is,  with  reasonable  beings,  whereas  they  had  not 
so  much  sense  as  animals  !  All  the  same  I  think  a  good 
deal  of  this  contempt  for  the  Hindu  was  assumed  for 
our  benefit,  particularly  as  the  emancipation  of  women 
evidently  formed  no  part  of  his  programme.  He  gave 
an  entertaining  account  of  a  visit  paid  by  Miss  Carpenter 
to  his  wife  and  widowed  sister.  Miss  Carpenter  was  a 
philanthropic  lady  of  about  fifty,  with  hair  beginning 


MARRIAGES   OF  INFANTS   AND   WIDOWS     187 

to  grizzle,  who  carried  on  a  crusade  against  infant  mar- 
riage and  the  prohibition  of  the  remarriage  of  widows. 
"  W^eU/'  was  the  comment  of  Mrs.  Prashad,  "  I  married 
when  I  was  seven  and  my  husband  nine  and  I  have  been 
happy.  How  is  it  that  this  lady  has  remained  unmarried 
till  her  hair  is  growing  grey  ?  Has  no  one  asked  her  ? 
There  ought  to  be  a  law  in  England  that  no  one  shall 
remain  unmarried  after  a  certain  age  !  "  The  sister 
countered  an  inquiry  as  to  her  continued  widowhood 
with  the  question,  "  Why  does  not  the  Empress  marry 
agam  i 


CHAPTER  IX 

NORTHERN  INDIA   AND   JOURNEY  HOME 

From  Benares  we  went  to  Luclmow,  where  we  had  the 
good  fortune  to  meet  Sir  Frederick  (afterwards  Lord) 
Roberts,  and  Lady  Roberts,  who  were  exceedingly  kind 
to  us  during  our  stay.  We  had  one  most  interesting 
expedition  under  their  auspices.  We  and  some  others 
met  them  by  appointment  at  Dilkusha,  a  suburban, 
ruined  house  of  the  former  King  of  Oude  from  which 
Sir  Colin  Campbell  had  started  to  finally  relieve  Outram 
and  Havelock  in  November  1857.  Roberts,  then  a 
young  subaltern,  was,  as  is  well  known,  of  the  party, 
and  he  took  us  as  nearly  as  possible  over  the  ground 
which  they  had  traversed.  Havelock,  who  had  previ- 
ously brought  relief  to  the  garrison,  but  not  enough  to 
raise  the  siege  of  Lucknow,  had  sent  word  to  Sir  Colin 
not  to  come  the  same  way  that  he  had,  as  it  entailed  too 
much  figliting  and  loss  to  break  right  through  the  houses 
held  by  the  rebels,  but  to  keep  more  to  the  right.  Sir 
Frederick  pointed  out  the  scenes  of  several  encounters 
with  the  enemy,  and  one  spot  where  he,  sent  on  a 
message,  was  nearly  lost — also  Secunderabagh,  a  place 
with  a  strong  wall  all  round  it,  where  the  British  found 
and  killed  two  thousand  rebels,  the  British  shouting 
"  Remember  Cawnpore  \  "  to  each  man  as  they  killed 
him. 

Each  party — Campbell's,   and  Havelock's  who  ad- 
vanced to  join  them — put  flags  on  the  buildings  they 

188 


THE   RELIEF  OF   LUCKNOW  189 

captured  as  signals  to  their  friends.  At  last  they 
respectively  reached  the  Moti  Mahal  or  Pearl  Palace. 
Here  Sir  Frederick  showed  us  the  wall  on  which  the 
two  parties,  one  on  either  side,  worked  till  they  effected 
a  breach  and  met  each  other.  Then  Sir  Colin  Cambell, 
who  was  at  the  Mess  House  just  across  the  road,  came 
forward  and  was  greeted  by  Generals  Outram  and  Have- 
lock — and  the  relief  was  complete. 

Sir  Frederick  had  not  seen  the  wall  since  the  breach 
had  been  built  up  again,  but  he  pointed  out  its  where- 
abouts, and  Jersey  found  the  new  masonry  which 
identified  the  spot.  Colonel  May,  who  had  come  with 
us  from  Dilkusha,  then  took  us  over  the  Residency  in 
which  he,  then  a  young  engineer,  had  been  shut  up 
during  the  whole  of  the  siege.  It  was  amazing  to  see 
the  low  walls  which  the  besieged  had  managed  to 
defend  for  so  long,  particularly  as  they  were  then  over- 
looked by  comparatively  high  houses  held  by  the  rebels 
which  had  since  been  levelled  to  the  ground.  Colonel 
May  indicated  all  the  posts,  and  the  places  of  greatest 
danger,  but  there  was  danger  everywhere,  except 
perhaps  in  the  underground  rooms  in  which  250  women 
and  children  of  the  32nd  were  lodged.  Cannon-balls 
were  always  flying  about — he  told  us  of  one  lady  the 
back  of  whose  chair  was  blown  away  while  she  was 
sitting  talking  to  him  just  outside  the  house,  and  of  a 
cannon-ball  which  passed  between  the  knees  of  a  Mrs. 
Kavanagh,  while  she  was  in  the  verandah,  without 
injuring  her.  We  also  saw  the  place  where  the  rebels 
twice  assembled  in  thousands  crying  "  Give  us  Gubbins 
Sahib  and  we  will  go  away."  They  particularly  hated 
Mr.  (iuljhins,  as  he  was  Financial  Commissioner. 

Sir  Frederick  said  the  hidies  seemed  quite  dazed  as 
they  came  out,  and  told  us  of  one  whom  he  knew  who 


190  NORTHERN   INDIA  [ch.  ix 

came  out  with  two  children,  but  subsequently  lost  her 
baby,  while  her  husband  was  killed  in  the  Mutiny. 
She,  he  said,  never  fully  recovered  her  senses.  No 
wonder,  poor  woman  !  One  quaint  thing  we  were  told 
was  that  the  rebels  played  themselves  into  quarters 
every  evening  with  "  God  save  the  Queen.'' 

One  unfortunate  incident  marred  an  otherwise  delight- 
ful time  at  Lucknow.  A  sham  fight  took  place,  and 
Sir  Frederick  Roberts  was  good  enough  to  lend  a  horse 
to  Jersey  and  a  beautiful  pony  to  Villiers  in  order  that 
they  might  witness  it.  Villiers,  boylike,  tried  to  ride 
his  pony  up  the  steep  bank  of  a  nullah.  It  fell  back 
with  him,  and  he  suffered  what  was  called  a  "  green 
fracture,''  the  bones  of  his  forearm  being  bent  near  the 
wrist.  They  had  to  be  straightened  under  chloroform. 
We  were  able  to  leave  Lucknow  two  days  later,  but  the 
arm  rather  hampered  him  during  the  rest  of  our  journey. 

Delhi  was  our  next  stopping-place,  where  we  had  a 
most  interesting  time,  being  entertained  by  the  Officer 
Commanding,  Colonel  Hanna — who  had  during  the 
siege  been  employed  in  helping  to  keep  open  the  lines 
of  communication  so  as  to  supply  food  and  munitions 
to  the  troops  on  the  Ridge.  He  was  therefore  able  to 
show  us  from  personal  knowledge  all  the  scenes  of  the 
fighting  and  relief,  as  well  as  all  the  well-known  marvels 
of  architecture  and  the  glories  left  by  the  great  Moghuls. 
His  house  was  near  the  old  fortifications,  which  I 
believe  are  now  demolished  for  sanitary  reasons,  but  it 
was  then  a  joy  to  look  out  of  the  windows,  and  see  the 
little  golden-brown  squirrels  which  frequented  the  old 
moat,  with  the  two  marks  on  their  backs  left  by  Krishna's 
fingers  when  he  caressed  their  progenitors. 

We  were  thrilled  by  his  stories  of  events  of  which 
he  had  been  an  eye-witness,  culminating  in  his  account 


VIEW   FROM  THE   KOTAB   MINAR  191 

of  the  three  days  during  which  the  British  troops  were 
permitted  to  sack  the  reconquered  city.  My  husband 
remarked  that  he  would  not  have  stopped  them  at  the 
end  of  three  days.  "  Yes,  you  would,  had  you  been 
there/*  said  Colonel  Hanna.  It  must  be  very  hard  to 
restrain  men  maddened  by  weeks  of  hardship  and  the 
recollection  of  atrocities  perpetrated  by  their  foes,  if 
they  are  once  let  loose  in  the  stronghold  of  their  enemies. 
The  troops  camped  on  the  Ridge,  and  losing  their 
bravest  from  hour  to  hour  seem  to  have  had  at  least  one 
advantage  over  the  defenders  of  Lucknow — they  did 
not  suffer  from  the  terrible  shortage  of  water. 

Without  attempting  an  account  of  all  the  palaces, 
tombs,  and  mosques  which  we  saw,  I  must  just  say  that 
nothing  that  I  have  ever  seen  is  so  impressive  in  its 
way  as  the  view  from  the  Kotab  ]Minar  after  you  have 
scaled  the  375  steps  to  its  tapering  summit.  Over  the 
great  plain  are  scattered  the  vestiges  of  deserted  cities 
built  by  the  conquerors  and  emperors  of  two  thousand 
years,  a  history  culminating  on  the  Ridge  of  Delhi, 
where  Queen  Victoria  was  proclaimed  Empress,  and 
where  her  grandson  received  in  person  the  homage  of 
the  feudatory  princes  and  chiefs  over  whom  he  was 
destined  to  rule.  Even  the  Campagna  of  Rome  has  not 
that  array  of  skeletons  of  past  and  bygone  cities  actually 
displayed  before  the  eyes  of  the  beholder,  each  bearing 
the  name  of  some  ruler  whose  name  and  deeds  are  half 
remembered  although  his  dynasty  has  passed  away. 

One  of  these  cities  is  Tughlakabad,  with  the  tomb 
of  Tughlak  and  his  son  .Tuna.  The  latter  was  a  horrid 
tyrant  who  maimed  and  ill-treated  many  victims. 
His  cousin  and  successor  Feroz  seems  to  have  been  a 
merciful  and  pious  ruler  :  he  compensated  the  injured  as 
far  as  possible  and  got  them  to  write  deeds  of  indenmity. 


192  NORTHERN   INDIA  [ch.  ix 

which  he  placed  in  Juna's  tomb  that  the  latter  might 
present  them  on  the  day  of  judgment.  One  cannot 
help  thinking  that  Feroz  rather  than  Juna  may  benefit 
from  this  action  at  the  Great  Assize. 

On  January  12th  we  went  to  spend  Saturday  to 
Monday  with  Major  and  Mrs.  Paley  at  Meerut.  Our 
nephew  George  Wombwell  was  laid  up  at  Colonel 
Morris's  house  there  with  typhoid  fever.  He  seemed  to 
be  recovering,  and  after  making  arrangements  for  a 
nurse  and  every  attention  we  returned  to  Delhi  on 
Monday.  We  were  afraid  to  keep  Villiers  in  a  canton- 
ment station  with  illness  about.  Alas !  Jersey  was 
summoned  back  a  few  days  later,  when  we  were  at 
Agra,  as  George  became  worse,  and  died.  It  was  very 
sad. 

At  Agra  we  went  first  to  Lauri's  Hotel,  but  Sir  John 
Tyler,  Superintendent  of  the  Jail,  persuaded  us  to 
come  and  stay  with  him,  which  was  really  a  great 
thing,  as  Villiers  had  by  no  means  completely  recovered 
from  the  effect  of  his  accident,  and  Sir  John  being  a 
surgeon  was  able  to  look  after  him.  Needless  to  say  we 
visited  the  famous  Taj  by  moonlight  and  by  day,  each 
time  finding  fresh  beauties.  I  venture  to  quote  a 
sentence  about  it  from  an  article  which  I  wrote  concern- 
ing India  published  in  The  Nineteenth  Century,  because 
Sir  Edwin  Arnold  was  polite  enough  to  say  that  I  had 
discovered  a  fault  which  had  escaped  the  observation 
of  himself  and  his  fellows  : 

"  The  Taj,  that  fairy  palace  of  a  love  stronger  than 
death,  sprung  from  sunset  clouds  and  silvered  by  the 
moon,  has  but  one  fault — it  is  too  perfect.  Nothing  is 
left  to  the  imagination.  There  are  no  mysterious 
arches,  no  unfinished  columns,  nothing  is  there  that 
seems  to  speak  of  human  longing  and  unfulfilled  aspira- 


SEKUNDRA  AND   FUTTEHPORE-SEKREE      193 

tion  ;  you  feel  that  a  conqueror  has  made  Art  his  slave, 
and  the  work  is  complete  ;  you  can  demand  nothing 
more  exquisite  in  this  world." 

Among  the  many  wonders  of  Agra  and  its  neighbour- 
hood I  was  specially  impressed  by  the  Tomb  of  the 
Great  Akbar  at  Sekundra.  As  in  the  case  of  the  Taj, 
the  real  tomb  is  underneath  the  building,  but  in  the 
Taj  the  Show  Tomb  is  simply  in  a  raised  chamber 
something  like  a  chapel,  whereas  Akbar's  Show  Tomb 
is  on  a  platform  at  the  summit  of  a  series  of  red  sand- 
stone buildings  piled  on  each  other  and  gradually 
diminishing  in  size.  The  tomb,  most  beautifully  carved, 
is  surrounded  by  a  finely  worked  marble  palisade  and 
arcade  running  round  the  platform.  Presumptuously, 
I  took  this  mighty  erection  as  an  ideal  for  a  scene  in  a 
child's  story,  Eric,  Prince  of  Lorloyiia. 

We  were  also  delighted  with  Futtehpore-Sekree,  the 
great  city  which  Akbar  built  and  then  deserted  because 
it  had  no  water.  It  reminded  us  of  Pompeii,  though 
perhaps  it  had  less  human  interest  it  had  a  greater 
imprint  of  grandeur.  The  great  Archway  or  High 
Gate,  erected  1602  to  commemorate  Akbar's  con- 
quests in  the  Deccan,  has  a  striking  Arabic  inscription, 
concluding  with  the  words  : 

"  Said  Jesus  on  whom  be  peace !  The  world  is  a 
bridge ;  pass  over  it,  but  build  no  house  there  :  he  who 
hopeth  for  an  hour  may  hope  for  eternity  :  the  world  is 
but  an  hour ;  spend  it  in  devotion  :  the  rest  is  unseen." 

The  greatest  possible  art  has  been  lavished  on  the 
tomb  of  the  hermit  Sheikh  Suleem.  This  holy  man  had 
a  baby  si.x  months  old  when  Akbar  paid  him  a  visit. 
Seeing  his  fatlier  look  depressed  instead  of  elated  by 
the  honour,  the  precocious  infant  asked  the  cause.     The 


194  NORTHERN   INDIA  [ch.  ix 

hermit  must  have  been  too  much  absorbed  in  religious 
meditation  to  study  the  habits  of  babies,  for  instead  of 
being  startled  by  the  loquacity  of  his  offspring  he 
confided  to  him  that  he  grieved  that  the  Emperor  could 
not  have  an  heir  unless  some  other  person  sacrificed 
his  child.  "  By  your  worship's  leave/'  said  baby, 
"  I  will  die  that  a  Prince  may  be  born,"  and  before  the 
father  had  time  to  remonstrate  calmly  expired.  As  a 
result  of  this  devotion  Jehanghir  was  born,  and  Akbar 
built  Futtehpore-Sekree  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
hermit's  abode. 

When  Sheikh  Suleem  died  he  was  honoured  with  a 
splendid  tomb  inlaid  with  mother-of-pearl  and  enclosed 
in  a  marble  summer-house  with  a  beautifully  carved 
screen  to  which  people  who  want  children  tie  little 
pieces  of  wool.  Apparently  a  little  addition  to  the 
offering  of  wool  is  desirable,  as  the  priest  who  acted  as 
guide  assured  us  that  an  English  officer  who  had  a 
blind  child  tied  on  the  wool,  but  also  promised  our 
informant  a  hundred  rupees  if  the  next  was  all  right. 
The  next  was  a  boy  with  perfect  eyesight  and  the  priest 
had  his  reward. 

Beside  the  baby's  tomb,  which  is  in  an  outer  cemetery, 
we  saw  a  little  tomb  erected  by  a  woman  whose  husband 
was  killed  in  the  Afghan  War  over  one  of  his  old  teeth  ! 

We  were  fortunate  in  having  Sir  John  Tyler  as  our 
host  at  Agra,  for  as  Superintendent  of  the  Jail  he  was 
able  to  ensure  that  we  should  have  the  best  possible 
carpets,  which  we  wanted  for  Osterley,  made  there. 
They  were  a  long  time  coming,  but  they  were  well 
worth  it.  Abdul  Kerim,  Queen  Victoria's  Munshi, 
was  a  friend  of  his,  in  fact  I  believe  that  Sir  John  had 
selected  him  for  his  distinguished  post.  He  was  on 
leave  at  Agra  at  the  time  of  our  visit,  and  we  went  to 


THE   BIRTHPLACE   OF   KRISHNA  195 

a  Nautch  given  at  his  father's  house  in  honour  of  the 
Bisinillah  ceremony  of  his  nephew. 

From  Agra  we  visited  Muttra,  where  we  were  the 
guests  of  the  Seth  Lachman  Das — a  very  ricli  and 
charitable  old  man  of  the  Bunyah  (banker  and  money- 
lender) caste.  He  lodged  us  in  a  bungalow  generally 
let  to  some  English  officers  who  were  temporarily 
absent,  and  he  and  his  nephew  did  all  in  their  power 
to  show  us  the  sights  at  Muttra  and  in  the  neighbour- 
hood. 

Amongst  other  sacred  spots  we  were  taken  to  Krish- 
na's birthplace.  It  was  curious  that  though,  throughout 
India,  there  are  magnificent  temples  and  rock-carvings 
in  honour  of  Vishnu  and  his  incarnation  Krishna, 
his  birthplace  was  only  marked  by  a  miserable  little 
building  with  two  dolls  representing  Krishna's  father 
and  mother. 

The  legend  of  Krishna's  babyhood  is  a  curious  echo 
of  the  birth  of  our  Lord  and  the  crossing  of  the  Red 
Sea  combined.  It  seems  that  a  wicked  Tyrant  wanted 
to  kill  the  child  but  his  foster-father  carried  him  over 
the  river  near  Muttra,  and  as  soon  as  the  water  touched 
the  infant's  feet  it  receded  and  they  passed  over  dry 
shod.  In  memory  of  this  event  little  brass  basins  are 
sold  with  an  image  within  of  the  man  carrying  the  child 
in  his  arms.  The  child's  foot  projects,  and  if  one  pours 
water  into  the  basin  it  runs  away  as  soon  as  it  touches 
the  toe.  I  do  not  know  what  may  be  the  hydraulic 
trick,  but  certainly  it  is  necessary  to  put  the  brass 
basin  into  a  larger  one  before  trying  the  experiment 
to  receive  the  water  which  nms  out  at  the  bottom  The 
little  birthplace  building  was  in  the  courtyard  of  a 
mosque — part  of  which  was  reserved  for  the  Hindus. 

The  Seth  had  built  a  temple  in  Muttra  itself,  where 


196  NORTHERN   INDIA  [ch.  ix 

he  annually  expended  large  sums  in  feeding  the  poor, 
and  he  and  his  family  had  erected  a  still  finer  one  at 
Brindaban,  a  famous  place  of  pilgrimage  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood, where  they  had  set  up  a  flag-staff  120  feet 
high  overlaid  with  real  gold.  Seth  Lachman  Das 
maintained  at  his  own  expense  twenty-five  priests  and 
fifteen  attendants  besides  fifty  boys  who  were  fed  and 
instructed  in  the  Shastras.  As  at  Madura,  we  were 
struck  by  these  rich  men's  apparent  faith  in  their  own 
religion. 

After  visiting  Deeg  and  Bhurtpore,  we  reached  the 
pretty  Italian-looking  town  of  Ulwar.  The  Maha- 
rajah, who  was  an  enlightened  potentate,  had  un- 
fortunately gone  into  camp,  but  we  were  interested 
in  the  many  tokens  of  his  care  for  his  subjects  and  of 
his  artistic  tastes.  He  kept  men  executing  illuminations 
like  the  old  monks. 

When  we  visited  the  jail  I  was  admitted  to  the 
quarters  of  the  female  prisoners,  who  seemed  quite 
as  anxious  to  show  the  labels  which  they  carried  record- 
ing their  crimes,  as  schoolchildren  are  to  display  their 
exercises  or  needlework  when  one  visits  a  school.  One 
smiling  woman  brought  me  a  label  inscribed  '*  Bigamy," 
which  struck  me  as  rather  ludicrous  considering 
the  circumstances,  and  also  a  little  unfair  to  the 
criminal.  Indian  men  are  allowed  several  wives — 
why  was  she  punished  for  having  more  than  one 
husband  ?  Probably,  however,  she  was  safer  locked  up 
in  prison  than  left  at  the  mercy  of  two  husbands,  one 
of  whom  would  almost  certainly  have  cut  ofi"  her  nose 
if  he  had  an  access  of  jealousy. 

After  Ulwar  we  spent  a  few  days  at  that 
most  attractive  city,  Jeypore,  called  by  Sir  Edwin 
Arnold  the  *'  City  of  Victory,"'  a  victorious  Maharajah 


THE  JAINS  197 

having  transferred  his  capital  there  from  the  former 
picturesque  town  of  Amber.  The  principal  street  of 
Jeypore  has  houses  on  either  side  painted  pink,  which 
has  a  brilliant  effect  in  the  sunlight,  but  when  we  were 
there  the  paint  certainly  wanted  renewing.  The 
Maharajah  was  a  rarely  intelligent  man,  and  he  had  a 
particularly  clever  and  agreeable  Dewan — or  Prime 
Minister.  We  made  great  friends  with  the  English 
doctor — Dr.  Hendley — who  not  only  attended  some  of 
the  native  nobles,  but  also  was  able  to  superintend  the 
English  lady  doctor  and  thereby  help  the  native  ladies. 
Formerly  when  a  child  was  born  a  live  goat  was  waved 
over  its  head  and  the  blood  of  a  cock  sprinkled  on  it 
and  its  mother.  Mother  and  child  were  then  kept 
for  a  fortnight  without  air,  and  with  a  charcoal  fire 
constantly  burning,  more  charcoal  being  added  if  the 
child  cried.  Mercifully  the  younger  ladies  and  their 
husbands  were  beginning  to  realise  the  comfort  of 
English  treatment  on  these  occasions. 

On  our  way  from  Muttra  to  Ahmedabad  we  slept  at 
the  Rajpootana  Hotel,  about  sixteen  miles  from  Mount 
Abu  Station,  in  order  to  visit  the  Dilwarra  Temples  of 
the  Jains.  The  Jains  are  a  sect  of  very  strict  Bud- 
dhists— almost  the  only  representatives  of  the  Buddhists 
left  in  Hindustan  proper.  Ceylon  and  Burmah  are 
Buddhist,  so  are  some  of  the  lands  on  the  Northern 
Frontier,  but  the  Brahmins  contrived  to  exterminate 
Buddhism  in  the  great  Peninsula  in  the  eighth  century 
after  it  had  spread  and  flourished  there  for  about  a 
thousand  years.  These  Dilwarra  temples  are  well 
worth  a  visit  The  pious  founder  is  said  to  have  bought 
the  land  for  as  many  pieces  ot  silver  as  would  cover  it, 
and  to  have  paid  £18,000,000  sterling  for  building, 
besides  £5f>(J,000  for  levelling  the  site  on  the  steep  hill. 
14 


198  NORTHERN   INDIA  [ch.  ix 

Without  attempting  to  guarantee  the  accuracy  of 
these  figures,  it  may  safely  be  said  that  it  would  be 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  find  any  buildings  in  the 
world  of  which  the  interiors  present  an  equal  amount 
of  highly  finished  artistic  labour.  Outside  the  temples 
are  low  and  not  imposing,  inside  they  are  one  mass  of 
minute  and  elaborate  sculpture.  You  stand  beneath 
a  dome  with  saints  or  angels  worthy  of  a  Gothic  cathe- 
dral rising  to  its  central  point.  Around  are  arcades  with 
pillars  and  arches,  beyond  which  are  numerous  small 
chapels  or  shrines,  each  with  the  figure  of  a  large  cross- 
legged  Rishi  or  Saint  with  little  rishis  in  attendance 
Every  inch  of  arch,  arcade,  and  ceiling  is  adorned  with 
marvellous  carving  of  ornaments,  or  of  men,  ships, 
and  animals.  We  were  told  that  the  central  figure  in 
each  temple  was  "  Of  the  Almighty,"  who  seemed  to 
exact  as  tribute  to  his  power  a  fearful  noise  of  cymbals 
and  tomtoms.  He  appeared  to  be  not  exactly  a  deity, 
but  a  divine  emanation.  The  really  perfect  Jain 
wore  a  piece  of  muslin  over  his  mouth  to  avoid  destroy- 
ing the  life  of  even  invisible  insects,  but  such  extreme 
virtue  was,  I  fancy,  rare  and  must  have  been  highly 
uncomfortable. 

From  Ahmedabad  we  went  to  Bhownugger,  where 
we  were  received  in  great  state  by  the  young  Maharajah 
symptuously  attired  in  green  velvet  and  the  Star  of 
India,  and  attended  by  his  high  officials  and  a  guard 
of  honour.  We  felt  very  dirty  and  dusty  after  a  hot 
journey  (thermometer  in  railway  carriages  nearly 
100°)  when  received  with  so  much  splendour,  but  we 
liked  the  Maharajah  immensely  and  he  became  devoted 
to  my  husband. 

He  gave  us  a  splendid  time  with  all  sorts  of  "  tam- 
ashas  "  while  we  were  his  guests,  but  we  were  specially 


THE   MAHARAJAH   OF   BHOWNUGGER       199 

interested  in  his  personality.  He  had  been  educated 
in  the  college  for  young  chiefs  at  Ajmere  and  had 
acquired  a  very  high  standard  of  ideas  of  right  and 
wrong  and  of  his  duty  to  his  people.  I  expect  that, 
like  the  rest  of  us,  he  often  found  it  hard  to  carry  his 
theories  into  practice,  and  it  was  rather  pathetic  w^hen, 
speaking  of  what  he  wished  to  do,  he  added,  "  We 
must  do  the  best  we  can  and  leave  the  rest  to  God  '' 
— then,  looking  up  at  the  chandelier  hanging  in  the 
bungalow  in  which  he  entertained  us,  he  continued, 
"  God  is  like  that  light,  and  the  different  religions  are 
the  different  colours  through  which  He  shines." 

One  of   his  difficulties,  poor  man,  was  in  his  mat- 
rimonial arrangements.     He  had  married  two  or  three 
ladies  of  high  rank,  as  considered  suitable  by  the  Brah- 
mins, but  he  had  also  married  to  please  himself  a  fair 
maiden  of  lower  caste.     He  then  learnt  that  if  he  did 
not  get  rid  of  her  the  Brahmins  meant  to  get  rid  of 
him.     Thereupon  he  took  the  Political  Officer  of  that 
part  of  the  country.  Captain  Ferris,  into  the  middle 
of  the  tennis  gromid,  as  the  only  spot  free  from  the 
risk  of  spies,  and  poured  his  griefs  into  the  Englishman's 
sympathetic  bosom.     Captain  Ferris's  solution  was  that 
Mrs.  Ferris  should  call  upon  the  despised  Rani,  as  she 
did  on  the  more  orthodox  wives,  and  that  the  Maha- 
rajah should   cling  to  his  English  adviser  for  several 
days,  driving  about  with  him  and  never  leaving  him, 
which  would  for  the  time  being  prevent  attempts  at 
assassination.      Wliat    was    to    happen    afterwards    1 
do  not  know.     Perhaps  the  Brahmins  became  aware 
that  any  foul  play  would  bring  the  English  raj  down 
upon  tliem.     Anyhow,  the  xMaharajah  lived  to  pay  a 
visit  to  England  and  came  to  see  us  there — though  he 
did  not  attain  old  age. 


200  NORTHERN   INDIA  [ch.  ix 

We  heard  a  good  deal  of  the  harm  resulting  from  the 
great  expense  of  native  marriages,  including  the  temp- 
tation to  infanticide.  In  the  district  about  Ahmedabad 
the  lower  castes  do  not  forbid  second  marriages,  and  these 
are  less  expensive  than  the  first.  Therefore  a  girl 
was  sometimes  married  to  a  bunch  of  flowers,  which  was 
then  thrown  down  a  well.  The  husband  thus  disposed 
of,  the  widow  could  contract  a  second  alliance  quite 
cheaply. 

We  then  spent  two  nights  as  guests  of  the  Thakur 
Sahib  of  Limbdi,  who,  like  the  other  Kathiawar  Princes 
of  Morvi  and  Gondal,  had  been  in  England  for  the 
Jubilee,  and  whom  we  had  known  there.  All  three, 
particularly  Limbdi  and  Gondal,  were  enlightened  men, 
with  various  schemes  for  promoting  the  welfare  of 
their  subjects.  The  life  of  many  of  these  Indian  Chiefs 
recalls  the  days  of  Scottish  Clans.  When  we  were 
driving  with  Limbdi  he  would  point  out  labouring  men 
who  saluted  as  he  passed  as  his  "  cousins,'"  and  finally 
told  us  that  he  had  six  thousand  blood  relations. 

On  February  14th  we  arrived  at  Baroda,  where  we 
were  most  hospitably  entertained  by  Sir  Harry  and 
Lady  Prendergast.  Baroda,  like  so  many  Indian  cities, 
offered  a  picture  of  transition,  or  at  least  blending  of 
East  and  West.  As  is  well  known,  the  late  Gaikwar 
poisoned  the  British  Resident.  He  was  tried  by  a 
Tribunal  of  three  Indians  and  three  British.  The 
former  acquitted,  the  latter  condemned  him.  He  was 
deposed  and  three  boys  of  the  family  were  selected  of 
whom  the  Maharanee  was  allowed  to  adopt  one  as  heir. 
She  chose  the  present  Gaikwar,  who  was  educated  under 
British  auspices,  but  has  not  always  been  happy  in 
his  relations  with  the  British  Government.  He  how- 
ever proved  quite  loyal  during  the  late  war.     When 


BARODA  201 

we  were  at  Baroda  he  had  been  decorating  his  Palace 
in  an  inferior  European  style.  He  had  bought  some 
fair  pictures,  but  would  only  give  an  average  of  £100, 
as  he  said  that  neither  he  nor  his  subjects  were  capable 
of  appreciating  really  good  ones.  In  contrast  to  these 
modern  arrangements  we  saw  the  "  Chattries ''  of 
former  Gaikwars.  These  were  funny  little  rooms, 
something  like  small  loose  boxes  in  a  garden  surround- 
ing a  shrine.  In  one  was  a  doll,  representing  Kunda 
Rao's  grandfather,  in  another  the  ashes  of  his  father 
under  a  turban  with  his  photograph  behind,  in  yet  a 
third  the  turbans  of  his  mother  and  two  other  sons. 
In  each  room  there  were  a  bed,  water  and  other  vessels, 
and  little  lights  burning,  the  idea  being  that  all  should 
be  kept  in  readiness  lest  the  spirits  should  return  to 
occupy  the  apartments.  After  all,  the  rooms  of  the 
late  Queen  of  Hanover  were  until  lately,  perhaps  are 
still,  kept  as  in  her  lifetime,  provided  with  flowers  and 
with  a  lady-in-waiting  in  daily  attendance  ;  so  East  and 
West  are  much  alike  in  their  views  of  honour  due  to 
the  departed. 

Back  to  Bombay  for  yet  five  happy  days  with  our 
dear  friends  Lord  and  Lady  Reay  before  saying  farewell 
to  India  on  February'  22nd.  We  had  had  a  truly 
interesting  experience  during  our  three  and  a  half 
months  in  the  Eastern  Empire,  and  were  deeply  im- 
pressed by  the  manner  in  which  so  many  races  were 
knit  together  under  British  rule.  How  far  all  this  may 
endure  under  the  new  attempts  at  Constitution-making 
by  Occidentals  for  Orientals  remains  to  be  seen.  When 
we  paid  this  first  of  our  visits  to  India  it  was  perfectly 
evident  that  the  idea  of  the  Queen-Empress  was  the 
comer-stone  of  government.  My  husband  talked  t-o 
many   natives,   Maharajahs   and   officials,   and    would 


202  NORTHERN   INDIA  [ch.  ix 

sometimes  refer  to  the  leaders  of  the  great  English 
political  parties.  Their  names  seemed  to  convey 
nothing  to  the  Indians,  but  they  always  brought  the 
conversation  back  to  "  The  Empress/^  Disraeli  was 
criticised  in  England  for  having  bestowed  that  title 
on  his  Mistress,  but  we  had  constant  opportunities  of 
seeing  its  hold  upon  the  Oriental  mind.  "  Give  my 
best  respects  to  the  Empress,''  was  a  favourite  mission 
given  to  Jersey  by  his  Maharajah  friends.  He  con- 
scientiously tried  to  acquit  himself  thereof  when  we 
saw  the  Queen,  who  was  a  good  deal  amused  when  he 
painstakingly  pronounced  their  titles  and  names. 

I  once  heard  a  story  which  shows  the  effect  of  the 
Royal  ideal  on  quite  a  different  class.  A  census  was 
in  progress  and  a  large  number  of  hill-tribes  had  to  be 
counted.  These  people  had  been  told  a  legend  that 
the  reason  for  this  reckoning  was  that  the  climate  in 
England  had  become  so  hot  that  a  large  number  of 
the  women  were  to  be  transported  there  to  act  as 
slaves  and  fan  the  Queen — also  the  men  were  to  be 
carried  off  for  some  other  servile  purpose.  Consequently 
the  mass  of  the  people  hid  themselves,  to  the  great 
embarrassment  of  the  officials.  One  extremely  capable 
man,  however,  knew  the  people  well  and  how  to  deal 
with  them  He  contrived  to  induce  the  leading  tribes- 
men to  come  and  see  him.  In  reply  to  his  inquiry  they 
confessed  their  apprehensions.  "  You  fools,''  said  the 
Englishman,  "  it  is  nothing  of  the  sort.  I  will  tell  you 
the  reason.  You  have  heard  of  the  Kaiser-i-Hind  ?  " 
Yes — they  had  heard  of  her.  "  And  you  have  heard 
of  the  Kaiser- i-Roum  ?  "  (the  Czar).  They  had  also 
heard  of  him.  "  Well,  the  Kaiser-i-Roum  paid  a 
visit  to  the  Kaiser-i-Hind,  and  when  they  had  finished 
their  curry  and  rice  they  began  talking.     He  said  he 


ENCxLISH   AS   LINGUA  FRANCA  203 

had  more  subjects  than  she,  the  Kaiser- i-Hind  said  she 
had  most.  To  settle  the  matter  they  hiid  a  heavy  bet 
and  both  sent  orders  to  count  their  people.  If  you 
don't  let  yourselves  be  counted  the  Kaiser-i-Hind  will 
lose  the  bet  and  your  faces  will  be  blackened."  The 
tale  of  the  bet  appealed  to  their  sporting  instincts.  All 
difficulties  disappeared.  The  tribesmen  rushed  to  be 
counted — probably  two  or  three  times  over. 

Again,  it  was  curious  to   notice   how  the  English 
language  was  weaving  its  net  over  India. 

At  Jeypore  an  English-speaking  native  official  had 
been  told  off  to  take  us  about  during  our  stay.  When 
we  were  thanking  him  and  saying  good-bye,  he  remarked 
that  the  next  person  whom  he  was  to  conduct  was  a 
judge  from  Southern  India.  The  judge  was  a  native 
Indian,  but  as  he  did  not  know  the  language  of  the 
Jeypore  State  he  had  sent  in  advance  to  ask  to  be 
provided  with  a  guide  who  could  speak  English.  For- 
merly the  lingua  franca  of  the  upper,  or  educated, 
classes  was  Persian,  of  the  lower  ones  Urdu — the  kind 
of  Hindustani  spoken  by  the  Mohammedan,  and  after- 
wards by  the  English  army.  Of  course  both  languages 
still  prevail,  but  all  educated  Indians  learn  English 
in  addition  to  two  or  three  of  the  hundred-odd  languages 
spoken  in  the  Peninsula.  On  a  later  visit  a  Hyderabad 
noble  was  taking  my  daughter  and  me  to  see  various 
sights.  I  noticed  that  he  talked  to  a  good  many 
natives  in  the  course  of  our  excursion,  and  as  they 
appeared  to  be  of  different  castes  and  occupations,  I 
asked  him  at  last  how  many  languages  he  had  talked 
during  the  day.  After  a  little  reflection  he  reckoned 
up  six.  It  will  not  be  such  a  very  easy  matter  to 
get  all  these  people  into  the  category  of  enlightened 
electors. 


204  NORTHERN   INDIA  [oh.  ix 

On  our  voyage  home  I  occupied  myself  by  writing 
the  article  already  mentioned  as  appearing  in  The  Nine- 
teenth Century — from  which  I  extract  the  following 
supplement  to  my  recollections : 

"  Caste  is  the  ruling  note  in  India.  The  story  which 
tells  how  the  level  plains  of  Kathiawar  were  reclaimed 
from  the  sea  illustrates  this.  The  egrets  laid  their 
eggs  on  the  former  ocean-line  and  the  wave  swept  them 
away.  The  egrets  swore  that  the  sea  should  be  filled 
up  until  she  surrendered  the  eggs.  They  summoned 
the  other  birds  to  help  them,  and  all  obeyed  their  call 
except  the  eagle.  He  was  the  favourite  steed  of  Vishnu, 
so  thought  himself  exonerated  from  mundane  duties. 
But  Vishnu  looked  askance  at  him  and  said  that  he 
should  be  put  out  of  caste  unless  he  went  to  help 
his  fellows.  Back  he  flew  to  Kathiawar,  and  when  the 
sea  saw  that  the  royal  bird  had  joined  the  ranks  of 
her  opponents  she  succumbed  and  gave  back  the  eggs. 

"  Hindu  respect  for  animal  life  entails  consequences 
which  make  one  wonder  how  the  earth  can  provide  not 
only  for  the  swarms  of  human  inhabitants,  including 
unproductive  religious  mendicants,  but  also  for  such 
numbers  of  mischievous  beasts.  Some  castes  will  kill 
no  animals  at  all,  and  all  Hindus  hold  so  many  as 
sacred  that  peacocks,  monkeys,  and  pigeons  may  be 
seen  everywhere,  destroying  crops  and  eating  people 
out  of  house  and  home.  The  people  of  a  town,  driven 
to  desperation,  may  be  induced  to  catch  the  monkeys, 
fill  a  train  with  them,  and  dispatch  it  to  discharge  its 
cargo  at  some  desolate  spot ;  but  woe  betide  a  simicide  ! 
The  monkeys  in  any  given  street  will  resent  and  lament 
the  capture  of  a  comrade,  but  do  not  care  at  all  if  a 
stranger  is  carried  ofE.     He  is  not  of  their  caste.'' 

In  May  1889 — The  National  Review  also  published 
the  following  verses,  which  I  wrote  after  reading 
Sir  Alfred  Lyall's  "  Meditations  of  a  Hindu  Prince.'' 
I  called  them  "  Meditations  of  a  Western  Wanderer  "  : 


MEDITATIONS  OF  A  WESTERN  WANDERER        205 

"  All  the  world  ovor,  meseemeth,  wherever  my  footsteps  have  trod. 
The  nations  have  builded  them  temples,  and  in  them  have  imaged  their 

God. 
Of  the  temples  the  Nature  around  them  haa  fashioned  and  moulded 

the  plan, 
And  the  gods  took  their  life  and  their  being  from  the  visions  and  longings 

of  man. 

"  So  the  Greek  bade  his  marble  be  instinct  with  curves  of  the  rock-riven 

foam. 
Within  it  enshrining  the  Beauty  and  the  Lore  of  his  sunlitten  home  ; 
And  the  Northman  hewed  deep  in  the  mountain  and  reared  his  huge 

pillars  on  high. 
And  drank  to  the  strength  of  the  thunder  and  the  force  flashing  keen 

from  the  sky. 

"  But  they  knew,  did  those  builders  of  old  time,  that  wisdom  and  courage 

are  vain, 
That  Persephone  rises  in  springtide  to  sink  in  the  winter  again, 
Th^t  the  revelling  halls  of  Walhalla  shall  crumble  when  ages  have 

rolled 
O'er  the  deep-rooted  stem  of  the  World-ash  and  the  hardly-won  Treasure 

of  gold. 

"  I  turn  to  theo,  mystical  India,  I  ask  ye,  ye  Dreamers  of  earth, 
Uf  the  Whence  and  the  Whither  of  spirit,  of  the  tale  of  its  birth  and 

rebirth. 
For  the  folks  ye  have  temples  and  legends  and  dances  to  heroes  and 

kings, 
But  ye  sages  know  more,  would  ye  tell  it,  of  the  soul  with  her  god-given 

wings. 

"  Ah,  nations  have  broken  your  barriers ;    ah,  empires  have  drunk  of 

your  stream. 
And  each  ero  it  passed  bore  its  witness,  and  left  a  new  thought  for  your 

dream  : 
The  Mosiom  aaith,  '  One  is  the  Godhead,'  the  Brahmin  '  Inspiring  all,' 
The  Buddhist,  '  The  Law  is  Almighty,  by  which  ye  shall  stand  or  shall 

fall.' 

"  Yea,  verily  One  the  All-Father  ;   yea,  Brahmin,  all  life  is  from  Him, 
And  Righteous  the  Law  of  the  Buddha,  but  the  path  of  attainment  is 

dim. 
In  Gfxl  ni)t  afar  from  liin  cn-atunv    the  Law  over-hard  to  obey  7 
Wherein  shall  the  Life  be  of  protit  to  man  Boeing  evil  boar  sway  T 


206  JOURNEY  HOME  [ch.  ix 

"  Must  I  ask  of  the  faith  which  to  children  and  not  to  the  wise  is  revealed  ? 
By  it  shall  the  mist  be  uplifted  ?     By  it  shall  the  shrine  be  unsealed  ? 
Must  I  take  it,  the  often-forgotten  yet  echoing  answer  of  youth — 
'  'Tis  I,'  saith  the  Word  of  the  Father,  '  am  the  Way  and  the  Life  and 
the  Truth '  t 

' '  The  Truth  dwelleth  ay  with  the  peoples,  let  priests  hide  its  light  as  they 
will; 
'Tis  spirit  to  spirit  that  speaketh,  and  spirit  aspireth  still ; 
Wherever  I  seek  I  shall  find  it,  that  infinite  longing  of  man 
To  rise  to  the  house  of  his  Father,  to  end  where  his  being  began. 

*'  And  the  secret  that  gives  him  the  power,  the  message  that  shows  him 

the  way, 
Is  the  Light  he  wiU  struggle  to  follow,  the  Word  he  perforce  wiU  obey. 
It  is  not  the  voice  of  the  whirlwind,  nor  bolt  from  the  storm -kindled 

dome ; 
'Tis  stillness  that  bringeth  the  tidings — the  child  knows  the  accents 

of  home." 

We  had  a  calm  voyage  to  Suez  in  the  Bengal.  It  was 
fortunate  that  it  was  calm — for  the  Bengal  was  quite 
an  old-fashioned  ship.  I  think  only  something  over 
3,000  tons — different  from  the  Arcadia,  then  the  show- 
ship  of  the  P.  and  0.  fleet.  I  was  amused  once  to  come 
across  an  account  by  Sir  Richard  Burton  of  a  voyage 
which  he  took  in  the  Bengal  years  before,  when  he 
described  the  P.  and  0.  as  having  done  away  with  the 
terrors  of  ocean  travel  by  having  provided  such  a 
magnificent  vessel. 

We  spent  nine  days  at  Cairo  and  Alexandria  and  saw 
the  usual  sights,  then  quite  new  to  us  ;  but  it  is  generally 
a  mistake  to  visit  one  great  land  with  a  history  and 
antiquities  of  its  own  when  the  mind  has  just  been 
captured  by  another.  Anyhow,  we  were  so  full  of  the 
glories  of  India  that  Egypt  failed  to  make  the  appeal 
to  us  which  she  would  otherwise  have  done,  and  which 
she  did  on  subsequent  visits.  The  mosques  in  particular 
seemed  to  us  inferior  to  the  marble  dreams  of  Delhi 


AN   ENGLISH   PLUM-PUDDING  207 

and  Agra.  Moreover  on  this  occasion  we  did  not 
ascend  the  Nile  and  see  the  wonderful  temples.  The 
one  thing  which  really  impressed  me  was  the  Sphinx, 
though  I  regret  to  say  that  my  husband  and  son  entirely 
declined  to  share  my  feelings.  Lord  Kitchener  was 
then,  as  Adjutant  to  Sir  Francis  Greufell,  Colonel 
Kitchener.  He  afterwards  became  a  great  friend  of 
ours,  but  we  first  made  his  acquaintance  on  this 
visit  to  Cairo.  We  had  a  most  interesting  inspection 
of  the  Barrage  works  under  the  guidance  of  Sir  Colin 
Moncrieff  and  dined  with  the  Khedive,  and  at  the 
British  Agency. 

From  Alexandria  we  went  by  an  Egyptian  steamer — 
at  least  a  steamer  belonging  to  an  Egyptian  line — to 
Athens,  which  we  reached  on  March  15th,  accompanied 
by  Lady  Galloway.  On  this  voyage  I  performed  the 
one  heroic  deed  of  my  life,  with  which  bad  sailors  like 
myself  will  sympathise.  The  crew  of  this  ship  was 
mainly  Turkish — the  native  Egyptians  being  no  good 
as  seamen,  but  the  captain,  Losco  by  name,  was  a 
Maltese  and  exceedingly  proud  of  being  a  British 
subject. 

The  first  day  of  our  voyage  on  the  Behera  was  calm, 
and  we  sat  cheerfully  at  dinner  listening  to  his  con- 
versation. He  was  particularly  emphatic  in  his  asser- 
tions that  he  understood  something  of  English  cuisine, 
I  believe  taught  by  his  mother,  and  above  all  he  under- 
stood the  concoction  of  an  English  plum-pudding  and 
that  it  must  be  boiled  for  twenty-four  hours.  Said 
he,  "  You  shall  have  a  plum-pudding  for  dinner  to- 
morrow." Then  and  there  he  sent  for  the  steward 
and  gave  him  full  instructions.  Next  evening  the 
plum-puclding  duly  appeared,  but  meantime  the  wind 
had   freshened   and   the   sea   had   risen.     Under    such 


208  JOURNEY   HOME  [ch.  ix 

conditions  I  am  in  the  habit  of  retiring  to  my  cabin 
and  remaining  prostrate  until  happier  hours  dawn — 
but  was  I  to  shake,  if  not  shatter,  the  allegiance  of 
this  British  subject  by  failing  in  my  duty  to  a  British 
pudding  ?  I  did  not  flinch.  I  sat  through  the  courses 
until  the  pudding  was  on  the  table.  I  ate  and  praised, 
and  then  retired. 

We  reached  Athens  early  on  the  following  morning 
and  forgot  rough  seas  and  plum-puddings  in  the  pleasure 
of  revisiting  our  former  haunts  and  showing  them  to 
Jersey  and  Villiers.     The  King  and  Queen  were  again 
good  enough  to  ask  us  to  luncheon  and  dinner,  and  this 
time  we  also  found  the  British  Minister,  Sir  Edmund 
Monson,  who  had  been  absent  on  our  previous    visit. 
He  kindly  included  Villiers,  though  barely  sixteen  years 
old,  in  an  invitation  to  dinner,  and  much  amusement 
was  caused  in  diplomatic  circles  by  the  very    pretty 
daughter  of  the  American  Minister,  Clarice  Fearn.     She 
was  about  seventeen  and  had  evidently  been    almost 
deprived  of  young  companionship  during  her  sojourn 
at  Athens.     She  was  seated  at   the  British  Legation 
between  Villiers  and  a  French  Secretary  no  longer  in 
his  first  youth,  so  she  promptly  turned  to  the  latter 
and  said,  "  I  am  not  going  to  talk  to  you,  I  am.  going 
to  talk  to  Lord  Villiers  "  ;    result,  an  animated  con- 
versation between  the  youngsters  throughout  dinner. 
She  at  once  acquired  the  nickname  of  "La  belle -fiUe 
de  I'avenir,"  and  long  afterwards  a  man  who  had  been 
at  the  British  Legation  some  time  subsequent  to  our 
visit  said  that  he  had  always  heard   her  called  this, 
though  he  had  never  known  the  reason.     I  need  hardly 
add  that  "  Society  "  at  Athens  was  very  small    and 
easily  amused.     Poor  "  belle-fille   de  I'avenir,''  I  saw 
her  again  when  she  and  her  sister  stayed  for  a  time  at 


THE  GREEK   ROYAL  FAmLY  209 

Somerville  College  at  Oxford,  but  she  died  quite  young. 
Her  sister,  Mrs.  Barton  French,  still  lives. 

For  the  rest  I  need  not  recapitulate  Greek  experiences 
beyond  transcribing  part  of  a  letter  to  my  mother  which 
contains  an  account  of  the  domestic  life  of  the  Greek 
Royal  Family  in  those  bygone  days  : 

"  Despite  the  weather  we  have  been  very  comfortable 
here  and  found  almost  all  our  old  friends.  The  Queen 
has  a  new  baby  since  last  year,  to  whom  she  is  quite 
devoted.  It  is  number  seven,  but  you  might  think 
they  had  never  had  a  baby  before.  The  first  time  we 
had  luncheon  there  we  all  migrated  to  the  nursery, 
and  the  Duke  of  Sparta  who  is  going  to  marry  Princess 
Sophie  of  Germany,  almost  resented  George's  suggestion 
that  some  beautiful  gold  things  of  his  might  be  moved 
out  of  the  nursery  cupboard,  as  he  said  '  they  have 
always  been  there.'  Last  Sunday  we  had  luncheon 
there  again,  and  this  time  the  baby  was  brought  down- 
stairs and  his  brothers  and  sisters  competed  for  the 
honour  of  nursing  him,  the  Queen  and  several  of  us 
finally  seating  ourselves  on  the  floor  in  order  that  the 
infant  prince  might  more  conveniently  play  with  the 
head  of  his  next  youngest  brother,  who  lay  down  with 
it  on  a  cushion  for  the  purpose.  It  makes  one  almost 
sad  to  see  the  eldest  Princess,  brought  up  like  this — • 
a  perfectly  innocent  girl  always  in  fits  of  laughter — 
going  to  be  married  to  one  of  the  Czar's  brothers  ; 
she  will  find  it  so  different  in  that  Russian  Court,  poor 
thing," 

Further  on  in  the  same  letter  1  write  : 

"  Everyone  has  a  diflerent  story  about  the  Rudolph- 
Stephanie  affair.  I  have  met  several  people  who  knew 
the  Baroness  and  say  she  was  very  lovely.  Some 
disbelieve  suicide,  as  he  was  shot  through  the  back  of 
his  head  and  she  through  the  small  of  her  back,  but, 
as  tlie  Austrian  Minister  hero  says,  no  one  knows  or 
ever  will  know  the  real  truth,     i  think  the  tragedies 


210  JOURNEY   HOME  ch.  ix 

in  those  three  imperial  houses,  Russia,  Germany,  and 
Austria,  surpass  any  the  world  has  ever  seen/'  and  I 
cite  the  wise  man's  prayer  for  "  neither  poverty  nor 
riches  "  as  "  about  right/' 

My  mother  sent  the  long  letter  of  which  this  formed 
part  to  my  aunt  Theodora  Guest,  who  made  a  character- 
istic comment.  She  allowed  the  wisdom  of  the  prayer, 
but  continued — "  but  in  praying  for  neither  poverty 
nor  riches,  I  should  be  careful  to  add  '  especially  not 
the  former,'  for  I  don't  see  that  poverty  ensures  peace, 
or  security  from  murder — and  it  would  be  hard  to  be 
poor  all  one's  life  and  be  murdered  at  the  end  !  Better 
be  rich  and  comfortable  if  only  for  a  time  Still  I  would 
not  be  Empress  of  Russia  for  something,  and  that  poor 
innocent  Grecian  princess  is  to  be  pitied/' 

This  was  written  April  1889.  What  would  my 
mother,  my  aunt,  or  myself  have  said  now  ? 

The  baby  of  our  luncheon  party  was  Christopher, 
now  the  husband  of  Mrs.  Leeds.  The  poor  little  Princess 
whose  doom  we  feared  had  a  more  merciful  one  than 
many  of  her  relations.  She  married  the  Grand  Duke 
Paul  later  in  1889  and  died  in  1891  after  the  birth  of 
her  second  child.  Taken  indeed  from  the  evil  to  come. 
Her  children  were  adopted  by  the  Grand  Duchess  Serge, 
who  I  believe  has  been  murdered  in  the  late  Terror 
— but  I  do  not  know  what  has  happened  to  the 
children. 

To  turn  to  something  more  cheerful.  A  delightful 
woman,  a  real  Mrs.  Malaprop,  had  lately  been  at  Athens 
and  much  enlivened  the  British  Legation  both  by  her 
remarks  and  her  credulity.  With  her  the  Parthenon 
was  the  "  Parthian,"  the  Odeum  (an  ancient  theatre) 
the  Odium,  Tanagra  became  "  Tangiers,"  and  so  on. 
She  told  Mr.  Haggard  that  she  did  not  like  the  "  Par- 


ORIGINAL  DERIVATIONS  211 

thian,"  it  was  too  big.  "  Oh,"  he  said,  "  you  ought 
to  like  it,  for  you  have  heard  of  the  Parthian  shafts — 
those  "  (pointing  to  the  columns)  '*  are  the  original 
Parthian  shafts."  "  How  very  interesting  !  "  said  she. 
He  then  proceeded  to  inform  her  that  the  Odeum  was 
used  for  music  (which  was  true),  but  added  that  the 
music  was  so  bad  that  they  all  hated  it,  and  therefore 
the  place  was  called  the  "  Odium  " — also  "  very  inter- 
esting." She  w^as  taken  for  an  excursion  in  Thessaly, 
where  there  were  sheep-pens  on  the  mountains,  and 
one  happened  to  be  fenced  in  a  shape  something  like 
an  irregular  figure  8.  Another  lady  pointed  this  out 
and  gravely  informed  her  that  that  was  how  the 
Pelasgians  numbered  their  mountains.  "  Oh,  Charles," 
shouted  the  victim  to  her  husband,  "  do  look — the 
Pelasgians  numbered  their  hills — one,  two,  three — there 
is  number  eight !  " 


CHAPTER  X 

WINDSOR — EGYPT  AND  SYRIA 

After  our  return  to  London  in  the  spring  I  was  greatly 
surprised  when  on  meeting  Sir  Henry  Ponsonby  one 
day  at  a  party  he  desired  me  to  send  my  article  on 
India  to  the  Queen.  He  was  at  that  time  her  Private 
Secretary  and  knew  her  deep  interest  in  all  things 
concerning  India,  but  I  never  imagined  that  anything 
which  I  had  written  was  sufficiently  important  to  be 
worth  her  notice.  However,  I  could  but  do  as  I  was 
ordered,  and  I  was  still  more  surprised  a  little  later  at 
the  result,  which  was  a  command  that  Jersey  and  I 
should  dine  and  sleep  at  Windsor.  Jersey  had  been 
there  before,  but  it  was  novel  to  me  and  very  interesting. 
We  were  taken  on  arrival  to  a  very  nice  set  of  rooms 
overlooking  the  Long  Walk,  up  which  we  presently  saw 
the  Queen  returning  from  her  afternoon  drive.  An 
excellent  tea  was  brought  us  and  Lord  Edward  Clinton 
came  to  look  after  us — also  another  member  of  the 
Household,  I  forget  who  it  was,  but  I  recollect  that  an 
animated  discussion  took  place  in  our  sitting-room  as 
to  an  omission  on  the  part  of  somebody  to  send  to  meet 
the  Speaker  (Arthur  Peel)  at  the  station  !  It  is  always 
rather  a  comfort  to  ordinary  mortals  to  find  that  even 
in  the  most  exalted  establishments  mistakes  do  some- 
times occur.  W^e  were  told  that  dinner  would  be  at  a 
nominal  8.30,  and  that  a  page  would  take  us  down 
when  we  were  ready.     Of  course  we  were  dressed  in 

212 


DINNER  AT  WINDSOR  213 

excellent  time,  but  just  as  I  had  finished  my  toilet 
Jersey  came  into  my  room  in  great  agitation.  He  was 
expected  to  wear  what  we  called  "  the  funny  trousers  " 
— not  knee-breeches,  but  trousers  fastened  just  below 
the  calf  of  the  leg  and  showing  the  socks.  Unfortun- 
ately his  black  silk  socks  were  marked  in  white,  and  he 
said  I  must  pick  out  the  marking — which  was  impossible 
all  in  a  minute,  and  the  rooms  somewhat  dimly  lit. 
However,  my  maid  suggested  inking  over  the  marks, 
to  my  inmiense  relief — and  all  was  well. 

When  we  went  downstairs  the  Lady-in-Waiting, 
Lady  Southampton,  showed  us  a  plan  of  the  table,  and 
it  was  explained  that  when  the  Queen  went  in  to  dinner 
we  all  followed — were  not  sent  in  with  a  man — and 
seated  ourselves  as  directed.  Then  as  time  approached 
we  were  drawn  up  on  either  side  of  the  door  by  which 
the  Queen  entered.  She  greeted  each  in  turn  kindly 
but  quickly,  and  went  straight  in.  It  was  not  really 
stiff  or  formidable  when  we  were  once  seated.  After 
dinner  the  Queen  established  herself  in  a  chair  in  the 
Long  Gallery  and  each  guest  was  called  up  in  turn  for  a 
little  conversation.  She  talked  to  me  about  India, 
and  said  that  it  was  only  her  great  age  and  the  fact  that 
she  was  a  very  bad  sailor  that  prevented  her  going 
there.  She  was  much  interested  in  our  having  seen 
her  Alunshi  at  Agra,  and  he  always  formed  a  link 
between  Her  Majesty  and  ourselves.  She  had  us  to 
Windsor  two  or  three  times  altogether,  and  always 
spoke  of  him  and  arranged  that  we  should  see  him.  He 
was  quite  a  modest  huml)le  man  to  begin  with,  but  I 
fear  tliat  his  head  was  rather  turned  later  on. 

Two  pieces  of  advice  Her  Majesty  bestowed  upon  me, 
to  keep  a  Journal,  and  wherever  I  travelled  never  to 
forget  England. 
15 


214  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA         [ch.  x 

This  school  term  we  were  greatly  pleased  at  Villiers 
winning  the  Junior  Oppidan  Exhibition  at  Eton.  He 
had  not  even  told  us  that  he  was  going  in  for  it,  and  we 
saw  the  first  announcement  in  The  Times.  His  master, 
Mr.  Donaldson,  wrote  that  he  took  it  "  in  his  stride 
without  quickening  his  space  at  all  or  making  any 
special  preparation  for  it."'  It  was  certainly  a  credit- 
able performance  after  missing  a  whole  term  while  in 
India. 

In  February  1890  Lady  Galloway  and  I  set  ofE  on  a 
fresh  expedition.  Jersey  was  anxious  that  I  should 
escape  the  cold,  and  held  out  hopes — unfortunately  not 
fulfilled — of  joining  us  later.  We  went  by  a  Messageries 
steamer — the  Congo — to  Alexandria,  and  thence  to  Cairo, 
where  we  found  various  friends,  including  Colonel 
Kitchener,  who  had  meantime  stayed  at  Osterley  and 
who  looked  after  us  splendidly.  He  was  very  amusing, 
and  when  there  was  a  difficulty  about  our  cabins  on 
the  Nile  boat  he  went  off  with  us  to  Cook's  Office  and 
said  that  we  must  have  two  cabins  instead  of  two  berths 
with  which,  despite  our  orders  given  in  London,  they 
tried  to  put  us  off.  No  one  in  Egypt  could  ever  resist 
Kitchener's  orders.  He  declared  that  we  represented 
two  aunts  whom  he  expected.  I  do  not  mean  that  he 
told  Cook  this. 

He  told  us  how  he  and  other  officers  had  looked  after 
Mr.  Chamberlain  on  a  late  journey  up  the  Nile  and  how 
he  felt  sure  that  they  had  enlightened  him  a  good  deal. 
It  was  very  shortly  after  this  that  Mr.  Chamberlain 
made  a  famous  speech  in  Birmingham  wherein  he  said 
that  he  had  seen  enough  of  Egypt  to  realise  that  Eng- 
land could  not  abandon  the  country  in  its  present  con- 
dition. I  do  not  remember  the  words,  but  that  was 
what  they  conveyed,  quite  different  from  former  Radical 


VOYAGE   UP  THE   NILE  216 

pronouncements.  That  was  the  great  thing  with  Mr. 
Chamberlain.  As  1  have  already  maintained,  he  had 
an  open  mind,  and  was  ready  to  learn  from  facts  and 
experience. 

To  return  to  our  Egyptian  experiences.  We  went  to 
Luxor  on  the  post  boat,  and  spent  about  a  week  at  the 
hotel  there.  We  found  all  sorts  of  friends  on  daha- 
byahs  and  in  other  places,  and  were  duly  impressed  by 
the  mighty  temples  and  tombs  of  the  kings.  I  do  not 
attempt  any  description  of  these  marvels,  never  to 
be  forgotten  by  those  who  have  seen  them. 

While  we  were  at  Luxor  the  Sirdar,  Sir  Francis  Gren- 
fell,  arrived  on  a  tour  of  inspection  with  Lady  Grenfell  and 
others.  We  joined  the  same  steamer,  the  Rameses,  and 
having  so  many  friends  on  board  made  the  voyage  as 
far  as  Assouan  additionally  pleasant.  The  direct 
military  jurisdiction  at  that  time  began  near  Edfou, 
and  a  force  of  Ababdeh,  or  native  guerilla  police  who  were 
paid  to  guard  the  wells,  came  to  receive  the  Sirdar  on 
his  reaching  this  territory.  A  number  mounted  on 
camels  led  by  their  Sheikh  on  horseback  galloped  along 
the  bank  as  the  ship  steamed  on.  At  Edfou  itself 
there  was  a  great  reception  of  native  infantry  and  others 
mounted  on  camels  and  horses. 

On  this  trip  we  saw  beautiful  Phila?  in  perfection  ; 
and  also  had  the  experience,  while  at  Assouan,  of 
shooting  the  cataract,  really  a  succession  of  rapids 
among  rocks.  The  boatmen  took  care  to  make  this 
appear  quite  dangerous  by  getting  close  to  a  rock  and 
then  ju.st  avoiding  it  with  loud  shouts.  An  Austrian, 
Prince  Schwarzenberg,  who  was  one  of  our  fellow- 
pas.seng(;rs,  looked  pretty  anxious  during  the  process, 
but  there  was  no  real  cause  for  alarm.  Last  time  we 
visited  Egypt  the  Dam,  though  of  enormous  benefit  to 


216  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA         [ch.  x 

the  country,  had  destroyed  much  of  the  charm  of  Philse 
and  of  the  excitement  of  the  cataract. 

From  Assouan  the  Grenfells  and  their  party  went  on 
to  Wady  Haifa,  and  Lady  Galloway,  Mr.  Clarke  of  the 
British  Agency,  and  I  set  off  on  our  return  journey  to 
Cairo.  Prince  Schwarzenberg  and  his  friend  Count 
Westfahlen  were  our  fellow-passengers.  The  Prince 
was  very  melancholy,  having  lost  a  young  wife  to  whom 
he  was  devoted ;  also  he  was  very  religious.  Count 
Westfahlen  admired  him  greatly.  The  Prince  was 
quite  interesting  and  cheered  up  considerably  in  the 
course  of  our  voyage.  He  was  a  good  deal  impressed 
by  the  ordinary  fact,  as  it  seemed  to  us,  that  the  English 
on  board  the  steamer  had  left  a  portion  of  the  deck 
undisturbed  for  the  Sirdar's  party  without  having 
been  officially  requested  to  do  so.  According  to  him, 
Austrians  of  the  middle- class  would  not  have  done  so 
under  similar  circumstances.  On  the  other  hand,  he 
was  astonished  to  learn  that  English  boys  of  our  own 
families  were  in  the  habit  of  playing  games  with  the 
villagers.  If  his  views  of  Bohemian  society  were  cor- 
rect, "  democracy  "  for  good  and  for  evil  was  at  a  dis- 
tinct discount ! 

Meantime  the  most  amusing  part  of  our  down-river 
voyage  occurred  at  Assiout,  where  the  steamer  anchored, 
and  where  we  spent  the  afternoon  with  the  Mudir  Choucry 
Pasha  and  dined  with  him  in  the  evening.  He  received 
us  with  a  splendid  cortege  of  donkeys  (quite  superior 
to  the  ordinary  race)  and  attendants ;  and  showed  us 
the  hospital — where  there  were  some  women  among 
others  who  had  been  wounded  at  Toski — the  prison, 
and  American  schools.  What  entertained  us  most, 
however,  was  an  Italian  Franciscan  convent  where  the 
nuns  trained  girls.     The  Prince  was  quite  scandalised 


CHOUCRY   PASHA.     PRINCESS  NAZLI        217 

because,  he  said,  they  ought  to  have  been  strictly 
cloistered — whereas  they  admitted  him,  Mr.  Clarke,  and 
the  Mudir,  whom  they  declared  was  "  un  bon  papa  "  ; 
and  one  of  the  nuns  played  "11  Bacio  "  and  the  Bou- 
langer  Hymn  for  our  amusement. 

Choucry  Pasha  then  took  Lady  Galloway  and  me  to 
visit  his  wife  and  married  daughter,  who,  though  their 
charms  were  by  no  means  dangerous,  were  much  more 
particular  in  secluding  themselves  than  the  nuns,  for 
the  men  of  our  party  had  to  keep  out  of  the  way  until 
our  interview  was  over  and  they  had  retired.  Then 
the  Mudir  sent  a  messenger  to  ask  the  Prince  and  Mr. 
Clarke  to  join  us.  They  declared  that  they  were  taken 
aback  when  the  black  servant  conveyed  the  summons 
thus  :  "  Pasha,  ladies,  harem,"  not  feeling  sure  but 
that  they  would  have  to  rescue  us  from  an  unknown 
fate.  What  they  did  find  in  the  house  was  the  dusky 
host  on  his  knees  unpacking  his  portmanteau  before  us 
in  order  to  produce  for  our  inspection  some  antiquities 
which  he  had  stowed  away  amongst  his  socks  and  other 
garments ! 

The  dinner,  later  in  the  evening,  consisted  of  various 
oriental  dishes,  and  a  large  turkey  appearing  after 
sweet  pastry. 

While  at  Cairo  we  paid  a  visit  to  the  well-known 
Princess  Nazli,  a  relation  of  the  Khedive's  who  received 
Europeans,  both  men  and  ladies,  but  not  altogether 
with  the  approval  of  her  vice-regal  relatives.  She  said 
that  the  doctor  wanted  her  to  go  to  the  Kissingen  baths, 
but  the  Khedive  did  not  like  her  to  go  alone,  would 
prefer  that  slie  should  marry  someone.  The  Khedive 
had  told  lier  in  speaking  of  some  other  relations  that 
Sir  Evelyn  Baring  might  interfere  with  anything  else 
but  not  with  the  membprs  of  his  faniilv.     She  hnd  re- 


218  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA        [ch.  x 

torted,  "  You  had  better  let  him  interfere  with  the 
family,  as  then  he  will  resign  in  three  weeks/' 

She  told  us  of  the  cruelties  which  she  knew  were 
inflicted  on  their  slaves  by  the  old  ladies  of  Ibrahim 
Pasha's  and  Mehemet  Ali's  family,  and  of  how  her 
English  governess  would  send  her  to  try  to  obtain 
mercy  when  the  screams  of  the  victims  were  heard. 
She  remembered  when  she  was  a  child  how  the  ladies 
taught  their  attendants  to  use  the  kourbash,  and  how 
she  saw  the  poor  women  covered  with  blood. 

Among  other  notable  people  then  in  Cairo  was  the 
explorer  Henry  Stanley  (afterwards  Sir  Henry),  who 
had  not  long  returned  from  his  expedition  to  relieve 
Emin  Pasha,  and  had  visited  the  Pigmies.  We  met  him 
at  dinner  at  Colonel  Kitchener's,  and  as  I  sat  near 
him  we  talked  a  good  deal.  My  impression  was  that 
he  did  not  easily  begin  a  conversation,  but  was  fluent 
when  once  launched.  He  was  engaged  on  his  book, 
In  Darkest  Africa,  in  which  he  declared  that  there  were 
to  be  three  pages  devoted  to  a  beautiful  white  lady 
fragrant  with  the  odours  of  Araby  whom  he  met  under 
the  Equator  !  If  I  subsequently  identified  her  I  fear 
that  I  have  now  forgotten  her. 

I  remarked  on  the  loss  of  my  brother-in-law's  relative 
Mr.  Powell,  who  had  gone  up  in  a  balloon  and  never 
been  heard  of  again,  whereat  Stanley's  comment  was, 
"  That  would  be  someone  to  look  for !  "  We  had 
already  met  his  companion,  Dr.  Parkes,  at  the  Citadel, 
who  had  shown  some  of  us  the  little  darts  used  by  the 
dwarfs.  Years  later  Mr.  James  Harrison  brought 
several  of  the  Pigmy  men  and  women  to  England,  and 
they  performed  at  the  Hippodrome.  He  kindly  offered 
to  bring  them  down  to  one  of  our  Osterley  garden 
parties,  where  they  created  great  interest  and  amuse- 


THE   PIGmES  219 

ment.  They  were  about  as  big  as  children  five  to 
seven  years  old,  and  quite  willing  to  be  led  by  the 
hand.  We  had  a  long,  low  table  arranged  for  them  on 
the  lawn  near  some  tall  trees,  and  one  of  the  little  men 
said,  through  the  interpreter,  that  he  thought  that 
"  there  must  be  good  shooting  in  this  forest."  We 
gave  them  some  children's  toys  ;  when  the  little  woman 
first  saw  a  doll  she  shrank  away  quite  frightened,  but 
was  subsequently  much  pleased.  The  chief  little  man 
appropriated  a  skipping-rope,  and  appeared  with  it 
tied  round  his  waist  at  the  Hippodrome  that  evening. 
We  were  told  that  the  price  of  a  wife  among  them  was 
two  arrows,  and  one  who  had  previously  lost  an  arrow 
was  distressed  at  having  lost  "  half  a  wife."  The 
Pigmies  did  not  seem  to  mind  the  company,  but  when 
one  rather  big  man  had  inspected  a  little  woman  more 
closely  than  pleased  her  she  waited  till  he  had  turued 
his  back  and  then  put  out  her  tongue  at  him! 

To  return  to  our  travels  in  1890.  We  left  Port 
Said  on  a  Russian  boat  on  the  afternoon  of  March  19th 
and  reached  Jaffa  early  the  following  morning  and 
Jerusalem  the  same  evening.  It  was  very  thrilling, 
and  I  am  always  glad  that  we  were  there  before  the 
days  of  railways.  The  whole  place  was  pervaded  with 
Russian  pilgrims,  many  of  whom  arrived  on  our  boat. 
Jerusalem  has  inspired  painters,  scribes,  and  poets 
for  hundreds  of  years,  so  1  will  only  mention  one  or 
two  of  the  scenes  which  struck  us  most. 

Naturally  the  Church  of  the  Holy  Scjnilchre  made  a 
deep  impression  upon  us.  The  Sepulchre  may  or  may 
not  have  been  the  original  tomb  in  which  our  Lord  was 
laid,  but  it  has  been  consecrated  by  the  vows  and 
prayers  of  countless  generations,  thousands  have  shed 
their  blood  to  win  that  spot  from  the  infidel,  and   if 


220  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA        [ch.  x 

warring  Churches  have  built  their  chapels  around  it 
at  least  they  cluster  under  the  same  roof  and  bow  to 
the  same  Lord.  The  then  Anglican  Bishop,  Dr.  Blyth, 
took  us  over  the  church.  We  entered  by  the  Chapel 
of  the  Angels  into  the  little  chapel  or  shrine  containing 
the  Sepulchre.  There  indeed  it  was  impossible  to 
forget  the  divisions  of  Christendom,  as  the  altar  over 
the  Holy  Tomb  was  divided  into  two  portions,  one 
decorated  with  images  to  suit  the  Latins,  the  other 
with  a  picture  to  meet  the  views  of  the  Orthodox  Church. 
Other  chapels  of  the  Roman  and  various  Eastern 
Churches  surround  the  Sanctuary,  the  finest  being  that  of 
the  Greeks,  who  seemed  when  we  were  there  to  exercise 
the  chief  authority  over  the  whole  building.  The  Greek 
Patriarch  was  a  great  friend  of  Bishop  Blyth,  and  had 
allowed  one  or  two  English  and  American  clergymen 
to  celebrate  in  Abraham's  Chapel,  a  curious  little  chapel 
in  an  upper  part  of  the  mass  of  buildings  included 
in  the  church.  Near  it  was  the  bush  in  which  the  ram 
substituted  for  Isaac  was  supposed  to  have  been  caught. 

Comprised  in  the  church  building  are  the  steps  up 
to  Calvary,  the  place  of  the  Crucifixion,  and  the  cleft 
made  by  the  earthquake  in  the  rock. 

The  Church  of  the  Nativity  at  Bethlehem  is  also 
very  interesting.  The  Grotto,  said  to  be  on  the  site 
of  the  Stable,  is  under  the  church  and  the  place  of  our 
Lord's  Birth  is  marked  by  a  silver  star  let  into  the 
pavement.  Beyond  are  caves  formerly  inhabited  by 
St.  Jerome,  dark  places  in  which  to  have  translated 
the  Bible.  As  usual  there  are  chapels  for  the  different 
sects,  and  blackened  marks  on  the  wall  of  a  cave 
showed  where  they  set  it  on  fire  in  one  of  their 
quarrels.  While  we  were  in  the  church  a  procession 
passed  from  the  Latin  Chapel  to  the  Grotto,  and  a 


INN   OF  THE   GOOD  SAMARITAN  221 

Turkish  soldier  was  standing  with  a  fixed  bayonet 
opposite  the  Armenian  Chapel  to  keep  the  peace  as 
it  went  by.  The  Armenians  had  been  forced  to  fold 
a  corner  of  the  carpet  before  their  altar  slanting  in- 
stead of  square,  that  the  Latin  processions  might  have 
no  pretext  for  treading  on  it.  I  suppose  Indian  Mo- 
hammedans are  now  enlisted  as  ecclesiastical  police, 
unless  indeed  the  warring  Churches  trust  to  the  im- 
partiality of  English  Tommies. 

From  Jerusalem  we  had  a  delightful  excursion  to 
Jericho.  A  carriage  road  over  the  mountain  pass  was 
in  course  of  construction,  but  we  had  to  ride  horses 
as  it  was  not  yet  ready  for  vehicles.  On  the  way 
we  passed  the  usual  Russian  pilgrims  with  their  greasy 
ringlets,  plodding  on  foot,  but  the  most  interesting 
party  was  one  we  saw  at  the  Khan  or  Inn  at  the  top 
of  the  pass.  This  Inn  was  no  doubt  on  the  site  of  that 
where  the  Good  Samaritan  left  the  traveller  whom  he 
had  treated  as  a  neighbour.  Even  if  our  Lord  was 
only  relating  a  parable,  not  an  historic  incident,  this 
must  have  been  the  Inn  which  He  had  in  mind,  as  it 
is  the  one  natural  stopping-place  for  travellers  between 
Jerusalem  and  Jericho.  While  we  were  seated  in  the 
courtyard  resting  awhile  in  the  open-air  in  preference 
to  the  primitive  room  within,  there  rode  in  a  group 
exactly  like  the  pictures  of  the  Flight  into  Egypt — 
a  man  leading  a  donkey  or  mule  (I  forget  which)  on  which 
was  seated  a  woman  carrying  a  baby,  evidently  taking 
it  to  baptize  in  Jordan.  "  'i'he  Madonna  and  Child," 
exclaimed  Lady  Galloway,  and  we  felt  thrilled  to  see 
a  living  Bible  picture  before  our  eyes. 

As  to  fulling  among  thieves,  we  had  been  assured 
that  there  was  every  chance  of  our  doing  so  unless  we 
paid  the  Sheikh  of  an  Arab  tribe  to  accompany  us  as 


222  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA        [ch.  x 

escort.  Tliis  was  a  simple  and  generally  accepted  form 
of  blackmail.  The  plundering  Arabs  agreed  among 
themselves  that  any  tourist  giving  a  fixed  sum  to  one 
of  their  leaders  should  be  guaranteed  against  the  un- 
welcome attentions  of  the  rest.  As  a  special  tribute 
to  "  Lord  Salisbury's  sister,"  we  were  also  provided 
with  a  Turkish  soldier,  but  I  doubt  his  utility.  Anyhow 
the  Arab  was  more  picturesque  and  probably  a  more 
effectual  guardian. 

We  had  also  with  us  our  dragoman  Nicholas,  whom 
we  had  brought  on  from  Egypt.  I  do  not  think  that 
he  knew  much  about  Palestine,  but  he  was  always 
ready  with  an  answer,  and  generally  asserted  that  any 
spot  we  asked  for  was  "  just  round  the  corner  "  of  the 
nearest  hill.  I  maliciously  asked  for  Moimt  Carmel, 
knowing  that  it  was  far  to  the  north.  With  a  wave  of 
his  hand  he  declared,  "  Just  round  there."  When  we 
reached  the  bituminous  desert  land  surrounding  the 
Dead  Sea  I  gravely  asked  for  Lot's  wife.  "  Lot's 
wife  ?  "  said  Nicholas,  hopelessly  perplexed.  "  Don't 
you  know,  Nicholas  ?  "  said  Lady  Galloway.  "  She 
was  turned  into  a  pillar  of  salt."  "  Oh  yes,"  he  replied 
pointing  to  the  nearest  salt-like  hillock,  "  there  she  is." 
No  doubt  if  he  ever  took  later  travellers  to  those  parts 
they  had  the  benefit  of  our  identification. 

We  stopped  for  luncheon  at  Jericho,  and  having 
inspected  the  strange  land  surrounding  the  Dead  Sea, 
we  went  on  to  the  Jordan,  a  small,  rapid  river  flowing 
among  alders  and  rushes.  There  we  washed  our  rings 
and  bracelets  and  then  returned  to  the  Jordan  Hotel 
at  Jericho,  a  solitary  building  kept  by  a  Hungarian, 
very  comfortable  in  a  simple  way — though  possessing 
a  perfect  farmyard  of  noisy  animals.  As  is  well  known 
the  Dead  Sea  lies  over  1,300  feet  below  the  level  of  the 


THE   HOLY   CITY  223 

Mediterranean  and  the  Jordan  discharges  its  water 
into  it,  without  any  outlet  on  the  other  side.  Hence 
evaporation  leaves  all  the  saline  deposits  of  the  river 
in  this  inland  Sea  and  causes  its  weird  dead  appearance 
and  the  heavy,  forbidding  nature  of  its  waters. 

It  is  impossible  to  dwell  on  all  the  spots  named  as 
scenes  of  Gospel  history  and  tradition.  As  Lady 
Galloway  truly  remarked,  the  difference  between  the 
story  as  simply  told  by  the  Evangelists,  and  the  aggre- 
gation of  subsequent  legend,  deepened  our  conviction 
of  the  truth  which  we  had  learnt  in  childhood.  For 
myself  I  had  heard  so  much  of  the  disappointment 
which  I  should  probably  feel  at  finding  Jerusalem  so 
small  and  thronged  with  so  much  that  was  tawdry 
and  counter  to  all  our  instincts,  that  I  was  relieved  to 
find  the  city  and  its  surroundings  far  more  beautiful 
and  impressive  than  I  had  expected.  To  look  from 
the  Momit  of  Olives  across  the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat 
to  where  the  Mosque  of  Omar  rises  on  Mount  Zion  is 
in  itself  a  revelation  of  all  that  stirred  the  souls  of  men 
of  three  Faiths  who  fought  and  died  to  win  the  Holy 
City.  On  the  wall  of  rock  on  the  city  side  of  the  Valley 
a  spot  was  pointed  out  to  us  on  which  Mohammedan 
tradition  foretold  that  Jesus  would  stand  to  judge 
mankind  at  the  Last  Day.  I  asked  why  Mohammedans 
should  believe  that  our  Lord  would  be  the  Judge.  My 
informant  hesitatingly  replied  that  "  He  would  judge 
the  world  for  not  believing  in  Mohammed  " — but  I 
think  that  the  answer  was  only  invented  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment. 

The  one  sacred  spot  inside  the  city  about  which  there 
appeared  to  be  no  dispute  was  Pilate's  House,  as  from 
time  immomoriul  this  building  had  been  the  abode  of 
the  Roman  Governor.     \\  hen  we  saw  it  it  formed  part 


224  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA        [ch.  x 

of  the  Convent  of  the  Sisters  of  Zion,  very  nice  women 
who  educated  orphans  and  carried  on  a  day  school.  In 
a  basement  was  the  old  pavement  with  marks  of  some 
kind  of  chess  or  draught  board  on  which  the  Roman 
soldiers  played  a  game.  One  of  the  arches  of  the 
court,  now  included  in  the  Convent  Chapel,  is  called 
the  Ecce  Homo  Arch,  as  it  is  probable  that  our  Lord 
stood  under  it  when  Pilate  said  "  Behold  the  Man.'' 

On  our  way  back  to  Jaffa  we  slept  at  Ramleh  and  again 
embarked  on  a  Russian  steamer,  which  sailed  on  the 
evening  of  March  25th  and  reached  Beyrout  on  the 
following  morning.  Jaffa  was  known  as  a  very  difficult 
port  in  rough  weather,  but  we  were  lucky  both  in 
landing  and  embarking.  One  of  the  rocks  which  impeded 
the  entrance  to  the  port  was  believed  to  have  been 
the  monster  which  Perseus  petrified  with  the  head  of 
Medusa.  I  only  hope  that  no  engineer  has  blown 
up  this  classic  rock  for  the  sake  of  any  improvement 
to  the  harbour ! 

Palestine  must  have  entirely  changed  since  we  were 
there  thirty- one  years  ago,  and  it  is  curious  to  look 
back  on  the  problems  exercising  men's  minds  at  that 
time.  The  Jewish  population  was  then  stated  to  have 
nearly  trebled  itself  in  ten  years.  We  were  rather 
entertained  by  a  sermon  delivered  by  a  very  vehement 
cleric  in  the  English  Church.  He  prophesied  that 
the  Empire  of  Israel  was  bound  to  attain  its  ancient 
magnificent  limits,  but  he  said  that  he  was  not  asking 
his  congregation  to  contribute  to  this  achievement 
(though  he  gave  them  the  opportunity),  as  it  was 
certain  to  be  effected ;  only  any  of  us  who  held  back 
would  not  share  in  the  ultimate  triumph.  I  do  not 
know  what  he  would  have  said  now,  but  if  alive  and 
holding  the  same  views  he  must  be  a  kind  of  Zionist. 


BALBEC  225 

The  Sultau  had  given  the  old  Church  of  the  Knights 
of  St.  John  of  Jerusalem  to  the  Emperor  Frederick 
for  the  Germans,  and  the  performances  of  his  son  are 
only  too  familiar,  but  in  our  day  the  fear  was  of  Russian 
machinations.  Russian  pilgrims,  as  a  pious  act,  were 
carrying  stones  to  assist  in  building  the  Russian  church, 
of  which  the  tall  minaret  dominated  the  Mount  of 
Olives,  and  the  Russian  Government  was  erecting 
large  buildings  for  pilgrims  just  outside  the  city  walls 
which,  as  we  were  significantly  told,  would  be  equally 
available  for  troops. 

From  Bey  rout  we  had  a  two  days'  drive,  sleeping 
at  Shtora  on  the  way  to  Balbec.  The  road  was  over 
Lebanon,  and  a  wonderful  piece  of  French  engineering. 
The  Hotel  de  Palmyra  at  Balbec  was  very  comfortable. 
We  found  close  by  some  of  the  first  tourists  of  the 
season  in  tents  supplied  by  Cook.  They  were  very 
cheerful,  but  I  think  must  have  been  rather  cold,  as 
March  is  full  early  for  camping  out  in  those  regions 
and  there  was  plenty  of  snow  on  the  mountain  tops. 
The  women  in  that  region  wear  a  kind  of  patten 
in  winter  to  keep  them  above  the  snow.  It  is  a 
wooden  over-shoe  with  raised  sole  and  high  wooden 
heel  instead  of  the  iron  ring  under  English  pattens. 
We  were  amazed  at  the  splendour  of  the  ruined  Temples 
of  Balbec,  where  the  !Sun  was  worshipped  at  different 
periods  of  ancient  history  as  Baal  or  Jupiter.  Most 
astonishing  of  all  was  the  enormous  Phoenician  plat- 
form or  substructure  of  great  stones,  three  of  which 
are  each  well  over  GO  feet  long.  Jn  a  quarry  near  by 
is  another  stone,  68  feet  long,  hewn  but  not  cut  away 
from  the  rock. 

From  Balbec  we  drove  to  Damascus,  and  met  on 
the  way  an  escort  sent  to  meet  Lady  Galloway.     We 


226  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA        [oh.  x 

did  not  take  the  escort  beyond  Shtora,  where  we  had 
luncheon,  but  at  Hemeh  we  found  the  Vice-Consul, 
Mr.  Meshaka,  and  a  carriage  and  guard  of  honour 
sent  by  the  Governor,  so  we  drove  into  the  town  in 
state. 

The  result  of  these  attentions  to  "  the  Prime  Minister's 
sister''  was  comic.  A  weird  female  had,  it  appears, 
seen  us  at  Jerusalem  and  followed  our  traces  to  Dam- 
ascus. We  saw  her  once  coming  into  the  restaurant 
smoking  a  big  cigar,  and  heard  that  she  drank.  She 
was  reported  to  have  had  a  difference  with  her  late 
husband's  trustees  on  the  subject  of  his  cremation. 
Whether  he,  or  she,  or  the  trustees  wanted  him  cremated 
I  forget,  and  am  uncertain  whether  she  was  carrying 
about  his  ashes,  but  anyhow  she  had  vowed  vengeance 
against  Lady  Galloway  because  we  had  been  provided 
with  an  escort  on  more  than  one  occasion  and  she  had 
not.  The  maids  said  that  this  woman  had  armed 
herself  with  a  revolver  and  sworn  to  shoot  her  rival ! 
I  will  record  our  further  meeting  in  due  course. 

Meantime  we  were  delighted  with  Damascus,  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  cities  I  have  ever  seen,  standing 
amidst  orchards  then  flowering  with  blossom,  among 
which  run  Abana  and  Pharpar,  so  picturesque  in  their 
windings  that  we  were  inclined  to  forgive  Naaman 
for  vaunting  them  as  "  better  than  all  the  waters  of 
Israel."  The  men  wore  long  quilted  coats  of  brilliant 
colours,  red,  green,  and  yellow,  and  the  women  brightly 
coloured  cotton  garments.  The  whole  effect  was 
cheerful  and  gay. 

Being  an  Oriental  city,  it  was  naturally  full  of  intrigue 
and  various  citizens,  notably  the  Jews,  tried  to  claim 
European  nationality  so  as  to  evade  the  exactions 
of  the  Turkish  Government,  but  as  far  as  we   could 


DAJNIASCUS.     LADY   ELLENBOROUGH         227 

judge  they  seemed  very  prosperous.  We  visited  several 
houses,  Turkish,  Christian,  and  Jewish,  very  pretty, 
built  round  courts  with  orange  trees  and  basins  of 
water  in  the  centre.  The  rooms  were  painted,  or 
inL-iid  with  marble — one  of  the  Jewish  houses  quite 
gorgeous  with  inlaying,  mother-of-pearl  work,  and 
carved  marble ;  in  one  room  a  marble  tree,  white,  with 
a  yellow  canary-bird  perching  in  its  branches.  I 
think  it  was  this  house  which  boasted  a  fresco  of  the 
Crystal  Palace  to  show  that  its  owner  lived  under  the 
"  High  Protection  of  the  British  Government."  Per- 
haps the  family  has  now  substituted  a  painting  of  the 
Eiffel  Tower  to  propitiate  the  French. 

We  went  to  a  mountain-spot  overlooking  the  town 
below  the  platform  called  Paradise,  from  w^hich  tradition 
says  that  Mohammed  looked  dow-n  on  the  city,  but 
thought  it  so  beautiful  that  he  refrained  from  entering 
it  lest  having  enjoyed  Paradise  in  this  life  he  should 
forfeit  a  right  to  it  hereafter.  It  is  a  pretty  story, 
but  I  fear  that  history  records  that  he  did  visit  Damas- 
cus, for  wliich  I  trust  that  he  was  forgiven,  as  the 
temptation  must  have  been  great. 

We  were  much  interested  while  at  Damascus  in 
hearing  more  about  Lady  Ellenborough,  who  had  lived 
in  the  house  occupied  by  the  Consul,  Mr.  Dickson,  who 
was  very  kind  to  us  during  our  stay. 

Lady  Ellenborough  was  quite  as  adventurous  a  lady 
as  Lady  Hester  Stanhope,  and  her  existence  on  the 
whole  more  varied.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Admiral 
Sir  Henr>'  Digby,  and  when  quite  a  young  girl  married 
Lord  Ellenborough,  then  a  widower.  After  six  years' 
experience  of  matrimony  she  was  divorced,  it  was  said 
in  consoquerice  of  licr  flirtations  with  the  then  Prince 
Schwarzenberg.     However,  that  may  have    been,  she 


228  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA  [ch.  x 

was  at  one  time  married  to  a  Bavarian  Baron  Venn- 
ingen.  How  she  got  rid  of  him  I  do  not  know,  but  she 
was  well  known  as  the  "  wife  "  of  Hadji  Petros  the 
brigand,  whose  son  I  have  mentioned  as  among  our 
friends  at  Athens.  While  in  Greece  she  fell  a  victim 
to  the  fascination  of  the  handsome  Sheikh  Mejmel 
el  Mazrab,  who  had  brought  over  Arab  horses  for  sale. 
She  went  off  with  him,  and  her  marriage  to  him  is  duly 
recorded  in  Burke's  Peerage.  She  lived  with  him 
partly  at  Damascus  and  partly  in  the  desert,  evidently 
much  respected  by  her  neighbours,  who  called  her 
"  Lady  Digby '"  or  "  Mrs.  Digby ''  as  being  sister  of 
Lord  Digby.  She  was  a  good  artist  and  is  said  to  have 
been  very  clever  and  pleasant.  She  dressed  like  a 
Bedouin  woman,  and  when  she  attended  the  English 
church  service  came  wrapped  in  her  burnous ;  but  Mr. 
Dickson's  father,  who  was  then  the  clergyman,  always 
knew  when  she  had  been  there  by  finding  a  sovereign 
in  the  plate.  She  died  in  1881.  1  never  heard  that  she 
had  a  child  by  any  of  her  husbands. 

Among  the  glories  of  Damascus  is  the  great  Mosque, 
once  a  Christian  church,  and  hallowed  by  both  Christian 
and  Moslem  relics.  When  we  were  there  it  still  had  an 
inscription  high  up,  I  think  in  Greek  characters,  stating 
that  the  Kingdoms  of  this  World  should  become  the 
Kingdoms  of  Christ.  There  was  a  fire  some  time  after 
we  saw  it,  but  I  trust  that  the  inscription  is  still  intact. 
Among  the  many  other  places  which  we  saw  was  the 
wall  down  which  St.  Paul  escaped  in  a  basket,  and  as 
we  looked  thence  into  the  desert  Mr.  Dickson  told  us 
that  until  a  short  time  before,  a  camel  post  started 
regularly  from  a  gate  near  by,  bearing  an  Indian  mail 
to  go  by  way  of  Bagdad.  Before  the  Overland  Route 
was  opened  this  was  one  of  the  speediest  routes,  and 


ORIENTAL   METHODS   OF   TRADE         229 

was  continued  long  after  the  necessity  had  ceased  to 
exist. 

Time  was  some  difficulty  in  Damascus,  as  Europeans 
generally  reckoned  by  the  usual  clock,  while  the  natives, 
Syrians  and  Arabs,  counted,  as  in  Biblical  days,  from 
sunrise  to  sunset  and  their  hours  varied  from  day 
to  day — not  that  punctuality  worried  them  nmch. 
In  making  an  appointment,  however,  in  which  men  of 
East  and  West  were  both  involved  it  was  necessary 
to  specify  which  sort  of  time  was  approximately  in- 
tended. Mr.  Meshaka  kindly  took  us  to  make  some 
purchases,  and  he  introduced  us  to  one  shop  in  which 
the  proprietor — an  Oriental,  but  I  forget  of  exactly 
what  nationality — had  really  established  fixed  prices 
on  a  reasonable  scale.  While  we  were  looking  round 
some  Americans  came  in  and  began  asking  prices. 
The  shopkeeper  told  them  his  principle  of  trade,  where- 
upon said  one  of  them  :  "  That  will  not  do  at  all.  You 
must  sa\  so  much  more  than  you  want  and  I  must  ofi'er 
so  much  less.  Then  we  must  bargain  until  we  come 
to  an  agreement." 

While  they  were  considering  their  purchases  I  asked 
the  price  of  some  tiny  models,  in  Damascus  ware,  of 
the  women's  snow-shoes.  The  man  answered  me 
aloud,  and  then  came  up  and  whispered  that  they  were 
a  fifth  of  the  price,  but  he  was  obliged  to  put  it  on 
nominally  "  because  of  those  people  " !  How  can 
dealers  remain  honest  with  such  inducements  to  "  pro- 
litecring  "  i  However,  there  is  not  much  risk  of  their 
abandoning  their  ancient  methods  of  trade.  1  recollect 
Captain  Hext  (<nir  P.  and  (J.  fellow-traveller)  telling  me 
of  one  of  his  experiences  somewhere  in  the  Levant. 
Wliile  his  ship  stopped  at  a  port  one  of  the  usual  local 
hawkers  came  on  board  and  showed  him  a  curio  which 


230  WINDSOR—EGYPT   AND    SYRIA         [oh.  x 

he  wished  to  possess.  Captain  Hext  and  the  man  were 
in  a  cabin,  and  the  man  reiterated  that  the  object  in 
question  was  worth  a  considerable  sum,  which  he 
named.  While  Captain  Hext  was  hesitating  a  note  for 
him  was  dropped  through  the  cabin-window  by  a 
friend  well  versed  in  the  habits  of  those  regions.  Acting 
on  the  advice  which  it  contained,  he  said  to  the  hawker, 
"  By  the  head  of  your  grandmother  is  this  worth  so 
much  ?  "  The  man  turned  quite  pale,  and  replied, 
"  By  the  head  of  my  grandmother  it  is  worth  " — naming 
a  much  lower  sum — which  he  accepted,  but  asked 
Captain  Hext  how  he  had  learnt  this  formula  (which 
of  course  he  did  not  reveal)  and  implored  him  to  tell 
no  one  else  or  he  would  be  ruined.  I  am  not  quite 
sure  whether  it  was  the  "  head  ''  or  the  "  soul  "  of 
his  grandmother  by  which  he  had  to  swear,  but  I  think 
head. 

We  drove  back  from  Damascus  via  Shtora  to  Beyrout, 
where  the  Consul  told  us  of  the  strange  requirements  of 
visitors.  One  told  him  that  he  had  been  directed  to 
pray  for  some  forty  days  in  a  cave — and  expected  the 
Consul  to  find  him  the  cave  ! 

At  Beyrout  we  took  an  Austrian  boat  and  had  a 
most  interesting  voyage,  stopping  at  Larnaca  (Cyprus) 
and  at  Rhodes,  where  I  had  just  time  to  run  up  the 
Street  of  the  Knights.  Early  on  Easter  Eve  we  reached 
Smyrna,  where  we  stayed  at  the  British  Consulate  with 
Mr.  Holm  wood  till  the  following  afternoon.  There  was 
a  considerable  population  of  mixed  nationalities,  amongst 
them  English  whose  children  had  never  been  in  England. 
Some  of  the  young  women  whom  we  saw  in  church  on 
Easter  Sunday  were  plump,  white- skinned,  and  dark- 
eyed  like  Orientals.  Mr.  Holmwood  said  that  many 
were  sent  for  education  to  Constantinople,   and  ap- 


SMYRNA  231 

parently  an  Eastern  life,  necessarily  with  little  exercise 
or  occupation,  had  even  affected  their  appearance. 

It  was  by  no  means  safe  in  those  days  to  venture  far 
outside  the  town,  for  brigands  were  dreaded,  and  only 
some  two  years  previously  had  carried  off  the  sons  of 
one  of  the  principal  English  merchants  and  held  them 
to  ransom.  They  sent  word  that  they  would  let  them 
go  free  if  the  father  would  come  unarmed  and  un- 
attended to  a  certain  spot  and  bring  £500.  On  his 
undertaking  to  do  so  they  liberated  the  boys  without 
waiting  for  the  actual  money,  but  the  youngest  died 
from  the  effects  of  exposure,  their  captors  having  had 
constantly  to  move  to  avoid  pursuit.  Mr.  Holmwood 
would  not  let  us  out  of  the  sight  of  himself  and  his 
dragoman,  for  he  said  that  the  Turks,  unlike  the  Greeks, 
had  no  respect  for  women. 

A  Canon  Cazenove  who  was  in  our  ship  officiated  on 
Easter  Sunday.  The  British  Government  having  ceased 
to  subsidise  a  chaplain  for  the  Consular  Church,  there 
was  only  service  when  a  travelling  clergyman  could  be 
annexed,  but  the  congregation  rolled  up  joyfully  at 
short  notice.  While  we  were  in  church  we  heard 
cannon  discharged  outside  in  honour  of  the  Sultan's 
birthday,  and  the  impression  was  somewhat  strange — 
an  English  service  in  the  precincts  of  one  of  the  Seven 
Churches  of  the  Kevelation,  a  congregation  partly  of 
travelling,  partly  of  orientalised  British,  and  without 
the  echoes  of  Mohammedan  rule.  Poor  Smyrna !  still 
the  battleground  of  warring  races. 

We  resumed  our  voyage  and  I  was  thrilled  when  we 
passed  Tenedos,  touching  at  Besika  Bay  and  seeing  in 
the  distance  the  Plains  of  Troy.  We  entered  the 
Dardanelles  in  rain  and  mist,  and  I  think  it  was  fortu- 
nate that  we  got  through  safely,  as  our  Austrian  captain. 


232  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA  [ch.  x 

though  a  mild  lover  of  little  birds,  was  also  credited  with 
an  affection  for  drink.  A  fine  morning  followed  the 
wet  evening ;  Sir  Edgar  Vincent  sent  a  boat  from  the 
Bank  to  meet  us,  and  received  us  most  hospitably  in 
his  charming  house.  During  a  delightful  week  at 
Constantinople  we  saw  all  the  "  lions "  of  that 
wonderful  city,  under  his  auspices. 

Despite  its  unrivalled  position  and  the  skill  and 
wealth  lavished  upon  it  by  Christendom  and  Islam,  I 
do  not  think  that  Constantinople  takes  the  same  hold 
upon  one's  affection  as  Athens  or  Rome.  Many  of  the 
buildings  seem  to  have  been  "  run  up  '"'  for  the  glory  of 
some  ruler  rather  than  grown  up  out  of  the  deep-rooted 
religion  or  patriotism  of  a  race.  St.  Sophia  is  glorious 
with  its  cupola  and  its  varied  marble  colunms,  but  greatly 
spoilt  by  the  flaunting  green  shields  with  the  names  of 
the  companions  of  the  Prophet ;  and  the  whole  effect 
is  distorted  because  the  prayer  carpets  covering  the 
pavement  have  to  slant  towards  the  Kebla,  the  niche 
or  tablet  indicating  the  direction  of  Mecca  ;  whereas 
the  Mosque,  having  been  built  as  a  Christian  church, 
was  destined  to  look  towards  Jerusalem — at  least  it 
was  built  so  that  the  congregation  should  turn  to  the 
East. 

There  was,  however,  one  beautiful  object  which  we 
were  delighted  to  have  seen  while  it  retained  a  brilliance 
which  it  has  since  lost.  There  were  in  a  new  building 
in  process  of  erection  opposite  the  Museum  four  tombs 
which  had  lately  been  discovered  near  Sidon  and  brought 
to  Constantinople  by  Hampdi  Bey,  Director  of  the 
School  of  Art.  All  were  fine,  but  the  finest  was  that 
dignified  by  the  name  of  Alexander's  Tomb.  The 
attribution  was  doubtful,  but  not  the  beauty.  They 
had  been  covered  up  while  the  building  was  in  progress, 


CONSTANTINOPLE  233 

but  were  just  uncovered  and  we  were  allowed  to  see 
them.  Tlie  unrivalled  reliefs  on  "  Alexander's  Tomb  " 
represented  Greeks  and  Persians  first  as  fighting,  and 
then  as  having  made  friends.  The  two  nations  were 
easily  distinguished,  as  the  Greeks  had  hardly  any  gar- 
ments, while  the  Persians  were  fully  clothed.  The 
tombs  having  long  been  buried  in  the  sand,  the  vivid 
colours,  and  particularly  the  purple  worn  by  the  Per- 
sians, had  been  perfectly  preserved,  but  I  understand 
that,  exposed  to  the  light,  all  soon  faded  away. 

The  streets  of  Constantinople  were  not  nearly  so  gay 
as  those  of  Cairo  or  of  many  other  Eastern  towns  which 
I  have  seen.  Things  may  have  altered  now,  but  during 
our  \asit  hardly  any  women  walked  about  the  city,  and 
the  men  were  mostly  dressed  in  dark  European  clothes 
with  red  fezes,  not  at  all  picturesque.  At  the  Sweet 
Waters,  a  stream  in  a  valley  rather  like  Richmond, 
where  we  drove  on  Friday  afternoon,  it  was  different. 
The  ladies  celebrated  their  Sabbath  by  driving  in  shut 
carriages,  or  walking  about  near  the  water,  in  gay- 
coloured  mantles,  often  with  parasols  to  match,  and  with 
transparent  veils  which  did  not  at  all  conceal  their 
very  evident  charms. 

Sir  William  White  was  then  Ambassador,  and  he  and 
his  wife  were  very  kind  to  us.  Among  other  things 
Lady  White  invited  us  to  join  a  party  going  over  to 
Kadikeui  on  the  Scutari  side  of  the  Bosphorus.  It 
was  a  quaint  expedition.  The  Embassy  launch  and 
the  French  launch  each  carried  guests.  The  French 
launch,  "  mouche  "  as  they  called  it,  started  first,  but 
the  sea  was  rapidly  rising,  and  the  few  minutes  which 
elapsed  before  we  followed  meant  that  the  waves  were 
almost  dangerous.  It  was  impossible,  however,  that 
the  British  should  show  the  white  feather  when  France 


234  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA         [ch.  x 

led  the  way.  Lady  Galloway  and  I  sat  silent,  one  or 
two  foreign  ladies,  Belgians,  I  think,  screamed  and 
ejaculated  ;  the  Swedish  Minister  sat  on  the  prow  like 
a  hardy  Norseman  and  encouraged  the  rest  of  us,  but 
the  Persian  Minister  wept  hot  tears,  while  Lady  White 
stood  over  him  and  tried  to  console  him  with  a  lace- 
trimmed  handkerchief  and  a  bottle  of  eau  de  Cologne. 

Having  landed  as  best  we  could,  Sir  Edgar  Vincent, 
Lady  Galloway  and  I  drove  to  Scutari,  where  we  saw 
the  howling  dervishes.  There  was  a  band  of  little 
children  who  were  to  lie  on  the  floor  for  the  chief,  and 
specially  holy,  dervish  to  walk  upon  at  the  conclusion 
of  the  howling  ceremony.  The  building  where  this 
took  place  was  so  hot  and  crowded  that  I  soon  went 
outside  to  wait  for  my  companions.  Immediately  a 
number  of  dishevelled  inhabitants  began  to  gather 
round  me,  but  I  dispersed  them  with  my  one  word  of 
Turkish  pronounced  in  a  loud  and  indignant  tone.  I 
do  not  know  how  it  is  spelt,  but  it  is  pronounced  "  Haiti  " 
and  means  "  go  away."  I  make  it  a  point  in  any 
fresh  country  to  learn  if  possible  the  equivalent  for  the 
words  "  hot  water  ''  and  "  go  away.''  I  suppose  as 
we  were  not  in  an  hotel  I  found  the  Turkish  for  '*  hot 
water  "  unnecessary,  but  "  go  away  "  is  always  useful. 

Among  the  people  we  met  in  Constantinople  was  a 
venerable  Pasha  called  Ahmed  Vefyk,  who  used  to 
govern  Brusa  and  part  of  Asia  Minor,  and  was  noted 
for  his  honest  energy,  and  for  doing  what  he  thought 
right  irrespective  of  the  Sultan.  He  talked  English 
well,  and  his  reminiscences  were  amusing.  He  told  us 
that  fifty-five  years  previously  he  had  taken  thirty-nine 
days  to  travel  from  Paris  to  Constantinople  and  then 
everyone  came  to  see  him  as  a  curiosity.  He  introduced 
us  to  his  fat  wife  and  to  a  daughter,  and  offered  to  make 


THE   SELAMLIK  235 

all  arrangements  for  us  if  we  would  visit  his  former 
Government. 

Alas  !  time  did  not  admit,  neither  could  we  wait  to 
dine  with  the  Sultan,  though  we  received  messages 
desiring  that  we  should  do  so.  We  were  told,  however, 
that  the  Sultan  always  wished  to  retain  known  visitors 
in  Constantinople,  and  to  effect  this  would  ask  them  to 
dine  and  then  keep  postponing  the  date  so  as  to  delay 
their  departure.  We  could  not  chance  this,  so  were 
obliged  to  leave  without  having  seen  more  of  His 
Majesty  than  his  arrival  at  the  ceremony  of  tlie  Selamlik 
— a  very  pretty  sight,  but  one  which  has  often  been 
described.  We  were  at  a  window  just  opposite  the 
Mosque  and  were  edified,  among  other  incidents,  by  the 
way  in  which  the  ladies  of  the  harem  had  to  perform 
their  devotions.  They  were  driven  up  in  closed  carriages, 
their  horses  (not  themselves)  were  taken  out,  and  they 
remained  seated  in  the  vehicles  for  the  duration  of  the 
service,  which  lasted  about  three-quarters  of  an  hour. 
Imagine  Miss  Maud  Royden  left  in  a  taxi  outside  a  church 
while  the  ministers  officiated  within !  The  Sultan  was 
driven  up  with  brown  horses,  and  drove  himself  away 
in  another  carriage  with  white  ones.  I  do  not  know  if 
this  had  any  symbolic  significance. 

We  left  Constantinople  by  the  Orient  Express  on  the 
evening  of  April  14th,  and  had  quite  an  exciting  journey 
to  Vienna,  which  we  reached  on  the  afternoon  of  the 
16th.  Sir  Edgar  Vincent  accompanied  us,  and  there 
was  also  on  the  train  Captain  Waller,  a  Queen's 
Messenger,  and  these  were  each  bound  to  have  a  sepa- 
rate sleeping  compartment.  There  were  various  pas- 
Hengcrs  of  diflerent  nationalities,  including  our  maids. 

A  compartment  with  four  berths  had  been  reserved 
for  Lady  flalloway  and  myself — but  when  the  maids 


236  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA        [ch.  x 

looked  in  to  arrange  it  they  came  back  in  alarm,  an- 
nouncing that  our  Damascus  foewoman  of  the  revolver 
and  the  cigar  had  installed  herself  in  our  compartment 
and  refused  to  move !  Of  course  Sir  Edgar,  being 
Governor  of  the  Imperial  Ottoman  Bank,  was  all- 
powerful  and  the  lady  had  to  give  way — but  there  was 
another  sufferer.  Later  on  a  Greek  who  shared  a 
compartment  with  a  German  wanted  to  fight  him  ;  they 
had  to  be  forcibly  separated  and  the  Greek  shut  up  for 
Tuesday  night  in  the  saloon  while  the  German  was 
left  in  possession — which  further  reduced  the  accommo- 
dation. When  we  stopped  at  Budapest,  about  mid- 
night, the  sister  of  the  Queen  of  Servia  was  escorted 
into  the  train  with  flowers  and  courtesy,  but  the  poor 
woman  had  to  spend  the  night  in  the  passage,  as  the 
alternatives  were  sharing  the  compartment  of  the 
revolver  woman,  who,  we  were  told  in  the  morning, 
terrified  her  by  barking  like  a  dog,  or  going  into  the 
saloon  with  the  Greek,  equally  uncomfortable. 

These  were  not  all  the  excitements.  Previously, 
at  Sofia,  Prince  Ferdinand  of  Bulgaria  got  into  the 
train  accompanied  by  an  imposing-looking  man  who  we 
thought  was  Stambuloff,  the  Prime  Minister  afterwards 
assassinated.  It  appeared  that  Prince  Ferdinand's 
pastime  was  to  join  the  train  in  this  way,  have  his 
dejeuner  on  board,  get  out  at  the  frontier,  and  return  to 
his  capital  by  the  next  train.  It  seemed  a  curious  mode 
of  enjoyment,  but  probably  Bulgaria  was  less  lively 
than  it  has  become  since.  We  heard  afterwards  that 
he  was  annoyed  because  Sir  Edgar  and  ourselves  had 
not  been  presented  to  him,  but  he  might  have  given  a 
hint  had  he  wished  it. 

Anyhow,  we  presently  saw  some  apricot  omelettes 
walking  about  and  asked  for  some,  but  were  told  that 


THE   ORIENT  EXPRESS  237 

this  was  a  dejeuner  cominande  and  we  could  not  share 
it,  to  which  deprivation  we  resigned  ourselves.  When 
the  repast  was  over,  however,  an  American  solemnly 
addressed  Sir  Edgar  saying,  "  Did  you,  who  were  near 
the  royal  circle,  have  any  of  that  asparagus  1  "  (I 
think  it  was  asparagus — may  have  been  French  beans.) 
"  No,"  replied  Sir  P^dgar.  "  Very  well  then,"  said  the 
Yankee  ;  "  since  you  had  none  I  will  not  protest,  but 
we  were  refused  it,  and  if  you  had  had  any  I  should 
certainly  have  made  a  row.  It  was  lucky  that  we  had 
not  shared  any  of  the  Princely  fare,  for  there  was  hardly 
space  for  more  rows  on  that  train. 

At  Vienna  Lady  Galloway  and  I  parted.  She  went 
to  her  relatives  at  Berlin,  and  I  returned  via  Cologne 
and  Flushing  to  England,  where  I  was  very  glad  to 
rejoin  my  family  after  these  long  wanderings. 

We  had  some  very  happy  parties  at  Osterley  during 
the  succeeding  summer.  I  have  already  mentioned 
Mr.  Henry  James's  description  of  the  place.  Our  great 
friend  Sir  Herbert  Maxwell,  in  his  novel  Sir  Lucian 
Elphin,  also  adopted  it  under  another  name  as  the 
background  of  one  of  his  scenes,  and  I  have  quoted  Mr. 
Ashley's  verses  written  in  1887.  I  love  the  place  and 
its  memories  so  dearly  that  I  cannot  resist  adding  the 
testimony  of  another  friend,  Mr.  Augustus  Hare.  He 
knew  it  well  both  in  the  days  of  the  Duchess  of  Cleve- 
land and  after  we  had  taken  up  our  abode  there,  and 
mentions  it  several  times  in  The  Story  of  my  Life,  but 
he  tells,  in  an  accoimtof  a  visit  to  us  including  the  Bank 
Holiday  of  August  1890,  of  our  last  party  before  we  went 
to  Australia.  From  that  1  extract  a  few  lines,  omitting 
the  over-kindly  portraits  of  ourselves  which  he  was  apt 
to  draw  of  his  friends  : 

"  I  went  to  Osterley,  which  looked  bewitching,  with 


238  WINDSOR— EGYPT   AND    SYRIA         [ch.  x 

its  swans  floating  in  sunshine  beyond  the  shade  of  the 
old  cedars.  Those  radiant  gardens  will  now  bloom 
through  five  years  unseen,  for  Lord  Jersey  has  accepted 
the  Governorship  of  New  South  Wales,  which  can  only  be 
from  a  sense  of  duty,  as  it  is  an  immense  self-sacrifice. 

"  The  weather  was  really  hot  enough  for  the  luxury  of 
open  windows  everywhere  and  for  sitting  out  all  day. 
The  party  was  a  most  pleasant  one.  M.  de  Stael,  the 
Russiac  Ambassador ;  Lady  Crawford,  still  lovely  as 
daylight,  and  her  nice  daughter  Lady  Evelyn ;  Lady 
Galloway,  brimming  with  cleverness  ;  M.  de  Montholon, 
French  Minister  at  Athens  ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  Parker, 
most  amusing  and  cheery ;  Sir  Philip  Currie^  General 
Feilding,  etc.  Everything  was  most  unostentatiously 
sumptuous  and  most  enjoyable.  On  Monday  we  were 
sent  in  three  carriages  to  Richmond,  where  we  saw  Sir 
Francis  Cook's  collection,  very  curious  and  worth 
seeing  as  it  is,  but  which,  if  his  pictures  deserved  the 
names  they  bear,  would  be  one  of  the  finest  collections 
in  the  world.  Then  after  a  luxurious  luncheon  at  the 
Star  and  Garter  we  went  on  to  Ham  House,  where  Lady 
Huntingtower  showed  the  curiosities,  including  all  the 
old  dresses  kept  in  a  chest  in  the  long  gallery.  Finally 
I  told  the  Jersey  children — splendid  audience — a  long 
story  in  a  glade  of  the  Osterley  garden,  where  the 
scene  might  have  recalled  the  Decameron.  I  was  very 
sorry  to  leave  these  kind  friends,  and  to  know  it  would 
be  so  long  before  I  saw  them  again." 

Sir  Francis  Cook — Viscount  Monserrate  in  Portugal — 
had  a  wonderful  collection  both  of  pictures  and  objets 
d'art  which  he  was  always  ready  to  show  to  our 
friends  and  ourselves.  I  am  not  expert  enough  to 
know  whether  all  the  names  attributed  to  the  pictures 
could  be  verified,  but  I  can  answer  for  one  which  we  saw 
on  an  occasion  when  we  took  Lord  Rowton  over  with 
some  others.     It  was  a  large  circular  painting  of  the 


STORY   OF   A   PICTURE  239 

Adoration  of  the  Magi  by  Filippo  Lippi.  Lord  Rowton 
expressed  the  greatest  interest  in  seeing  it,  as  he  said 
that  Lord  Beaconsfield  and  himself  had  hesitated 
greatly  whether  to  utilise  the  money  received  for 
Endyinion  to  purchase  this  beautiful  picture,  which  was 
then  in  the  market,  or  to  buy  the  house  in  Curzon 
Street.  I  should  think  the  decision  to  buy  the  house 
was  a  wise  one  under  the  circumstances,  but  the  picture 
is  a  magnificent  one.  I  saw  it  not  long  ago  at  an  ex- 
hibition of  the  Burlington  Fine  Arts  Club  lent  by  the 
son — or  grandson — of  Sir  Francis  Cook. 


CHAPTER  XI 

FIRST  IMPRESSIONS   OF  AUSTRALIA 

Mr.  Hare  s  account  of  our  August  Party  in  1890  men- 
tions the  reason  of  its  being  the  last  for  some  time.  My 
husband  had  been  already  offered  the  Governorship  of 
Bombay  and  would  have  liked  it  for  many  reasons,  but 
was  obliged  to  decline  as  the  climate  might  have 
been  injurious  after  an  attack  of  typhoid  fever  from 
which  he  had  not  long  recovered.  He  was  then  ap- 
pointed Paymaster- General,  an  unpaid  office  which  he 
held  for  about  a  year.  The  principal  incident  which 
I  recollect  in  this  connection  was  a  lengthened  dispute 
between  his  Department  and  the  Treasury  over  a  sum 
of  either  two  pounds  or  two  shillings — I  think  the 
latter — which  had  gone  wrong  in  an  expenditure  of 
thirty-five  millions.  In  the  end  Jersey  came  to  me  and 
triumphantly  announced  that  the  Paymaster- General's 
Department  had  been  proved  to  be  in  the  right.  How 
much  paper,  ink,  and  Secretary's  time  had  gone  to 
this  conclusion  I  cannot  say.  Postage  being  "  On  Her 
Majesty's  Service  "  would  not  come  into  the  reckoning. 
We  had  one  other  experience  of  pre-war  War  Office 
methods,  but  that  was  many  years  later.  A  rumour 
arrived  in  Middleton  village  that  the  soldier  son  of  one 
of  our  labourers  had  had  his  head  blown  off.  As  there 
was  no  war  proceeding  at  the  time,  we  could  not  think 
how  this  accident  had  happened,  and  went  to  ask  the 
parents  where  their  son  was  stationed.     They  had  no 

240 


WAR  OFFICE   RED  TAPE  241 

clear  idea,  but  after  a  long  tallc  remembered  that  they 
had  received  a  photograph  of  his  regiment  with  the 
Pyramids  in  the  background.  Armed  with  this  in- 
formation we  approached  the  War  Office  and  ultimately 
elicited  that  the  poor  youth  had  not  lost  his  head,  but 
had  died  of  fever  in  Egypt,  when  arose  the  question  of 
certain  pay  due  to  him.  The  War  Office,  with  an  in- 
satiable thirst  for  information,  would  pay  nothing 
until  elaborate  forms  were  filled  up  with  the  names  and 
addresses  of  all  the  brothers  and  sisters.  These  proved 
to  be  scattered  over  the  face  of  the  Empire,  and  as  the 
parents  could  neither  read  nor  write,  endless  visits  to 
them  were  necessary  before  we  could  find  out  enough 
to  fill  in  the  forms.  Before  this  was  accomplished  I  had 
to  leave  home  and  one  of  my  daughters  took  charge. 

At  last  she  wrote  that  the  money  was  really  being 
paid  to  the  old  father  and  would  be  deposited  in  the 
Post  Office.  Knowing  that  he  was  very  shaky,  I  wrote 
back  begging  that  she  would  get  him  to  sign  a  paper 
naming  his  heir,  but  before  this  was  done  he  suddenly 
fell  down  dead,  leaving  the  money  in  the  Post  Office,  and 
my  daughter  corresponded  on  alternate  days  with  the 
General  Post  Office  and  the  War  Office  before  she  could 
get  it  out.  Then  some  more  money  was  found  to  be 
due,  and  the  War  Office  said  they  could  not  pay  it 
until  they  had  certificates  from  the  sexton  and  the 
undertaker  who  had  buried  the  poor  old  man.  I  was 
back  by  the  time  these  were  procured,  and  lo  and  behold  ! 
one  spelt  his  name  Hitchcox  and  one  Hitchcocks. 
Foreseeing  another  lengthened  correspondence,  I  en- 
closed the  ioTin  wilh  a  letter  in  Jersey's  name  vouching 
for  the  fact  that  they  referred  to  the -same  person  but 
that  the  villagers  spelt  the  name  in  two  dillerent  ways. 
Fortunately   the  War  Office  felt  that  they   were  now 


242      FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA    [ch.  x 

sufficiently  acquainted  with  the  family  biography  and 
paid  up.  No  wonder  a  plethora  of  clerks  was  needed 
even  in  pre-war  days. 

To  return  to  our  own  affairs.  The  late  Lord  Knuts- 
ford,  then  Colonial  Secretary,  in  the  summer  of  1890 
asked  my  husband  if  he  would  accept  the  Governorship 
of  New  South  Wales,  and  he  consented.  Great  stress 
was  laid  on  our  not  telling  anyone  before  the  Queen 
had  approved,  and  we  were  most  conscientious,  though 
I  do  not  believe  that  other  people  keep  such  offers 
equally  secret  from  all  their  friends  and  relatives.  It 
was  rather  inconvenient  as  we  wanted  to  invite  my 
brother  Rupert  to  accompany  us  as  A.D.C.  and  he  was 
already  committed  to  another  appointment  abroad. 
As  soon  as  the  telegram  announcing  the  Queen's  ap- 
proval arrived,  I  sent  a  footman  to  look  for  him  at 
two  or  three  addresses  saying  that  he  must  find  Captain 
Leigh  somehow.  He  brought  him  back  in  triumph, 
having  caught  him  in  the  street.  Lord  Ancram  and 
my  cousin  Harry  Cholmondeley  were  the  other  A.D.Cs., 
and  George  Goschen,  now  Lord  Goschen,  Private 
Secretary. 

Just  before  we  were  due  to  start,  the  Queen  sent 
for  us  to  Balmoral  to  say  good-bye.  We  there  met 
amongst  others  the  Duke  of  Clarence,  the  only  time  I  ever 
saw  him,  and  I  thought  him  a  singularly  gentle,  modest 
young  man.  Some  old  gentleman  had  lately  left  him  a 
long  gold  and  turquoise  chain  which  had  belonged  to 
Marie  Antoinette.  He  told  the  Queen  about  it,  and, 
with  genuine  surprise,  said  he  could  not  think  why  it 
had  been  left  to  him.  Her  Majesty  expressed  the 
greatest  interest  in  anything  which  had  belonged  to 
Marie  Antoinette,  so  he  ran  upstairs  and  brought  it 
down  for  his  grandmother's  inspection.      He  talked  of 


BALMORAL  243 

his  voyage  to  Australia,  and  said  be  was  sorry  that  he 
had  been  too  young  to  appreciate  all  he  had  seen  as 
he  should  have  done.  I  remember  the  late  Admiral 
Lord  Clanwilliam,  who  had  the  supervision  of  the 
young  Princes  when  they  were  on  board  the  Bacchante, 
saying  that  no  boys  had  ever  given  him  less  trouble, 
and  that  Prince  George  (the  present  King)  was  equal 
to  boys  a  year  older  than  himself. 

When  we  went  to  Australia  Lord  Hopetoun  was 
alreadv  there  as  Governor  of  Victoria,  and  Lord  Kintore 
as  Governor  of  South  Australia,  while  Lord  Onslow 
reigned  in  New  Zealand.  These,  like  Jersey,  had  all 
previously  been  Lords-in- Waiting  to  the  Queen,  and 
Her  Majesty  said  to  us,  "  As  soon  as  I  get  a  nice  Lord- 
in- Waiting  Lord  Salisbury  sends  him  off  to  govern 
a  Colony  "  ;  to  which  my  husband  aptly  replied,  "  You 
see,  Ma'am,  how  well  you  brought  us  up  !  "  A  remark 
rewarded  by  a  gracious  smile. 

The  Queen  was  indeed  more  than  kind,  and  was 
very  much  upset  when  our  departure  was  delayed,  just 
when  all  preparations  were  made,  by  my  being  seized 
with  an  attack  of  typhoid  fever.  She  telegraphed 
constantly,  and  when  the  Court  returned  to  Windsor 
sent  a  messenger  daily  to  inquire.  We  were  told  that 
her  kind  heart  led  her  to  imagine  that  my  illness  was 
either  caused  or  intensified  by  our  having  been  sum- 
moned to  Balmoral  just  at  the  last  minute,  because 
she  had  forgotten  that  we  were  starting  so  soon.  Of 
course  it  had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  but  the  Queen  was 
well  aware  what  typhoid  fever  meant.  As  she  wrote 
to  Jersey,  she  was  "  but  too  well  acquainted  with  this 
t-orrible  illness  not  to  feel  anxious  whenever  any  relations 
or  friends  are  suffering  from  it." 

The  result  was  that  when  I  was  convalescent  Jersey 


244     FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF    AUSTRALIA   [ch.  xi 

had  to  start  alone,  and  I  went  with  my  children  to 
spend  Christmas  at  Stoneleigh,  following  him  in  January. 
Lady  Galloway  was  a  true  friend,  for  since  our  London 
house  was  let  she  took  me  from  Claridge's  Hotel,  where 
I  was  taken  ill,  to  her  house  in  Upper  Grosvenor  Street 
and  nursed  me  there  for  weeks.  Everyone  was  kind, 
Lady  Northcote  offering  that  I  should  take  possession 
of  her  house  and  have  Lady  Galloway  there  to  look 
after  me,  but  in  the  end  I  stayed  in  Upper  Grosvenor 
Street  till  I  could  move  to  Stoneleigh.  Christmas 
at  Stoneleigh  was  an  unexpected  pleasure,  and  my 
parents,  brothers,  and  sisters  did  all  they  could  to 
further  my  convalescence.  An  addition  to  the  family 
party  was  my  brother  Dudley's  charming  new  American 
wife,  of  whom  he  was  intensely  proud.  When  we 
greeted  them  or  dranlc  their  healths,  however,  in  the 
course  of  the  festivities  he  invariably  prefaced  his  words 
of  thanks  with  "  I  and  my  wife  "  despite  the  laughmg 
protests  of  his  auditors.  On  Twelfth  Night  we  drew 
characters,  with  the  result — perhaps  not  quite  fortui- 
tous— that  my  eldest  girl  Margaret  and  her  youngest 
brother  Arthur,  aged  seven,  were  Queen  and  King. 
Their  healths  were  duly  drunk,  and  Arthur  eagerly 
and  emphatically  responded,  beginning  "  My  wife  and 
I!" 

Mrs.  Dudley  Leigh  had  been  in  her  girlhood  much 
admired  in  the  Court  of  Napoleon  III  and  the  Empress 
Eugenie.  She  was  greatly  attached  to  the  Empress 
and  was  one  of  the  young  ladies  recorded  in  Filon's 
Memoirs  as  having  helped  to  cheer  the  deposed  monarchs 
in  the  first  part  of  their  exile  when  they  resided  at 
Cowes. 

Helene  Leigh  (then  Beck  with)  told  me  that  she  and 
her  sister  often  went  to  spend  an  evening  with  the 


FAREWELL  TO   ENGLAND  245 

Empress,  who,  as  is  well  known,  had  a  leaning  towards 
spiritualism  and  table-turning.  The  Emperor  disliked 
the  experiments,  and  on  one  occasion  begged  them  to 
stop.  Presently  he  went  to  bed  and  then  Eugenie 
determined  to  resume.  The  table  moved,  and  rapped 
out  "  Janvier."  The  Empress  asked  what  the  date 
implied,  and  the  answer  came  "  La  Mort."  In  the 
following  January  the  Emperor  died.  Personally  none 
of  these  coincidences  convince  me,  as  I  have  known 
automatic  and  other  prophecies  which  did  not  "  come 
ofE."  The  Emperor  was  very  ill  and  his  death  must 
have  seemed  imminent  to  many  present,  but  I  allow 
that  it  is  curious  that  the  date  as  remembered  by  my 
sister-in-law  should  have  proved  accurate. 

At  last  I  was  considered  well  enough  to  start,  and 
went  off  accompanied  by  four  children,  two  governesses 
and  three  servants,  the  rest  of  the  household  having 
preceded  us.  We  had  a  bitterly  cold  journey,  and 
Lady  Galloway,  who  joined  us  in  London  and  went 
with  us  across  France  and  Italy,  had  her  work  cut  out 
to  keep  us  warm  and  fed.  She  then  went  to  stay 
with  some  of  her  friends,  having  promised  to  visit  us 
later  in  Australia. 

It  was  very  sad  leaving  all  ray  family,  and  particularly 
my  eldest  boy  Villiers.  He  had  to  finish  his  time 
at  Eton  and  was  then  to  come  to  us  before  going  to 
Oxford.  Everyone  who  has  to  leave  children  behind — 
and,  alas  !  that  is  the  lot  of  only  too  many  English 
parents — knows  what  it  means,  and  I  will  not  dwell 
upon  it. 

All  our  friends  were  most  sympathetic  and  helpful, 
and  I  was  particularly  touched  by  Lord  Derby's  thought- 
fulness.  In  his  first  letter  on  hearing  of  the  appoint- 
ment he  wrote  :  "  You  arc  a  queen  and  an  exile.  Are 
17 


246    FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA   [oh.  xi 

you  to  be  congratulated  or  condoled  with  ?  .  .  ."  He 
went  on  with  serious  words  of  encouragement,  and  a 
little  later  took  the  trouble  voluntarily  to  write  out 
for  our  use  notes  on  Australia  "  founded  on  the  reports 
of  many  friends  and  on  some  experience  of  C.  0/' 
Among  his  very  shrewd  remarks  was  : 

"  Distrust  all  informants  who  have  been  long  away  ; 
things  change  rapidly  in  those  parts.  And  remember 
that  the  enriched  colonist  who  comes  back  with  £10,000 
a  year  to  live  in  England  does  not  in  the  least  represent 
the  country  in  which  his  money  was  made." 

Again  he  says  that  the  Governor — 

"  Must  spend  his  whole  salary  and  something  over. 
But  it  is  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  mere  outlay  and 
splendid  festivities  will  conciliate  goodwill — though 
they  go  a  long  way  towards  it.  What  the  colonists 
really  wish  and  like  is  that  the  Governor  should  appre- 
ciate them,  mix  in  their  amusements  and  apparently 
like  to  be  among  them.'' 

Fortunately  Jersey  always  liked  to  be  among  his 
fellow-men  and  understood  them,  and  the  Australians 
soon  found  that  out,  and  never  forgot  it.  Also  Lord 
Derby  truly  said  : 

"  The  less  a  Governor  interferes  directly,  the  better ; 
if  his  ministers  come  to  think  that  he  desires  so  to  do, 
they  will  tell  him  nothing ;  if  relieved  from  this  fear, 
they  will  be  glad  enough  to  profit  by  his  experience 
and  impartiality." 

Many  of  Lord  Derby's  further  comments  are  much 
to  the  point,  but  I  only  cite  one  which  is  somewhat  of 
a  forecast : 

"  Schemes  of  imperial  federation  are  not  treated 
seriously  by  anybody,  but  intercolonial  federation  is 


VOYAGE   ON  THE   "ARCADIA"  247 

a  growing  idea,  and  likely  to  be  worked  out,  though 
still  much  opposed." 

During  our  absence  Lord  Derby  was  an  excellent 
correspondent  and  I  may  refer  to  his  letters  later  on. 

We  sailed  in  the  Arcadia,  the  same  ship  which  had 
taken  us  to  India,  with  the  same  Captain  Andrewes. 
The  usual  incidents  of  a  long  voyage  were  not  wanting — 
the  natural  effect  on  young  men  and  women  was  exem- 
plified in  the  growing  attachment  of  a  very  clever 
Australian  Professor  to  our  English  governess — an 
attachment  which  ultimately  ripened  to  a  wedding  in 
Australia,  when  Miss  Mason  became  Mrs.  Harry  Allen. 
She  is  now  Lady  Allen,  and  when  the  Prince  of  Wales 
visited  Australia  she  sat  at  a  banquet  between  H.R.H. 
and  the  Governor-General,  so  our  Australian  experiences 
were  quite  successful  as  far  as  she  was  concerned. 

I  do  not  recollect  much  of  the  other  events  on  board 
ship,  for  I  was  still  not  very  strong  and  lived  mostly 
with  my  children,  in  a  nice  large  cabin  which  the 
P.  and  0.  had  arranged  for  me.  There  was,  however, 
one  couple  who  excited  considerable  interest — a  youth 
who  always  appeared  in  spotless  white  and  a  coloured 
sash,  and  a  girl  who  wore  white  frocks,  displaying 
varied  ribbons  to  match  her  admirer's.  When  we 
reached  Ceylon  passengers  were  forbidden  to  send  any 
washing  ashore,  as  there  was  small-pox  in  Colombo, 
and  the  young  man  went  nearly  frantic  at  being  unable 
to  refresh  his  wardrobe.  His  fellow-passengers  cruelly 
ragged  him,  and  he  was  reported  to  have  run  up  and 
down  in  front  of  his  cabin  with  a  drawn  sword. 

I  suppose  the  small-pox  was  only  in  the  native 
quarters,  for  we  were  allowed  to  land,  to  our  great  joy, 
had  a  delightful  drive  to  Mount  Lavinia,  where  we 
saw  the  mango  trick — not  very  impressive — had  dinner 


248    FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA   [oh.  xi 

at  the  Colombo  Hotel,  and  re-embarked  for  the  longest 
and  dullest  part  of  our  voyage.  The  monotony  of 
the  nine  days  between  Ceylon  and  Australia  was  re- 
lieved in  a  manner  more  stirring  than  pleasant.  We 
were  met  by  a  cyclone,  and  had  to  go  considerably 
out  of  our  course  to  avoid  its  full  fury,  but  what  we 
did  encounter  was  quite  bad  enough  and  we  were  very 
thankful  when  we  sighted  Australia. 

We  were  fortunate  during  our  sojourn  in  having  the 
old  friends  whom  I  previously  mentioned,  and  their 
wives,  as  colleagues.  Lady  Hopetoun  and  Lady  Kintore 
were  away  when  we  landed,  having  been  on  a  trip 
home  ;  but  Lord  Kintore  met  us  at  Adelaide  and  took 
us  up  for  the  day  to  his  beautiful  house  in  the  Mountains 
— Marble  Hill — while  Lord  Hopetoun  looked  after  us 
with  equal  hospitality  at  Melbourne.  We  only  stayed 
a  few  hours  at  each  place,  as  our  great  object  was  to 
reach  our  destination,  which  was  primarily  the  Gov- 
ernor's little  country  house.  Hill  View,  situated  in  the 
hills.  Here  I  spent  about  a  fortnight  to  rest  and 
revive  before  going  down  for  the  assembling  of  the 
Federation  Convention  at  Sydney. 

This  was  a  very  stirring  introduction  to  Colonial 
life.  (The  words  "  Colony  "  and  "  Colonial "  are  now 
taboo,  but  before  Federation  the  present  Australian 
States  were  called  "  Colonies,''  and  "  Colonial "  was 
freely  used  by  everyone  !) 

Delegates  from  all  the  States  were  assembled  in 
Sydney  and  most  of  them  had  brought  wives,  so  it 
was  somewhat  confusing  to  a  new-comer  to  be  at  once 
introduced  to  a  number  of  people,  however  kindly 
disposed  towards  her,  whom  she  had  never  seen  before, 
in  totally  novel  surroundings.  As  far  as  I  recollect 
the  initial  banquet  took  place  on  the  evening  of  my 


THE   FEDERATION  CONVENTION  249 

arrival,  March  1st,  1891.  It  was  given  in  the  Town 
Hall,  a  really  fine  building  in  which  we  afterwards 
attended  endless  functions  of  all  descriptions.  It  was 
arranged  that  Lady  Innes,  wife  of  Sir  George  Innes, 
a  judge,  should  dine  alone  with  me  and  accompany 
me  to  the  Gallery  to  hear  the  speeches  after  the  banquet. 
All  the  guests  courteously  rose  on  my  arrival ;  my 
cousin  Harry  Chobnondeley  escorted  me,  very  magni- 
ficent in  his  A.D.C.'s  uniform.  As  the  Cholmondeleys 
had  been  in  the  habit  of  acting  with  us  at  Middleton, 
I  felt  very  much  as  if  I  were  taking  part  in  private 
theatricals. 

The  principal  speeches  were  made  by  Jersey  and  the 
New  South  Wales  Premier,  Sir  Henry  Parkes,  who 
was  the  main  promotor  of  Federation.  Sir  Henry 
was  a  remarkable  character  in  his  way.  He  was  the 
son  of  a  small  farmer  on  my  grandmother's  property 
at  Stoneleigh,  where  he  attended  the  village  school, 
and  his  first  pair  of  breeches  was  made  by  the  village 
tailor  (the  same  parish  clerk  who  made  me  find  his 
places  in  church) .  Henry  Parkes  emigrated  to  Australia, 
and  a  lady  there  told  me  how  he  kept  a  sort  of  toy-shop 
and  "  fancy  repository "  where  she  could  take  her 
umbrella  to  be  mended.  He  became  a  Member  of 
Parliament  and  almost  an  autocrat.  He  had  a  fine 
head,  like  a  shagg}'  lion,  and  was  a  good  speaker,  though 
I  fear  that  the  education  given  him  in  Stoneleigh  School 
had  not  altogether  overcome  a  certain  difliculty  with 
his  "  h's,"  and  in  the  transaction  of  business  he  was 
somewhat  slow  in  thought.  He  was,  however,  un- 
doubtedly able  and  tenacious,  and  did  a  great  deal 
for  his  growing  country.  He  was  a  trifle  like  the  German 
Kaiser  in  his  desire  for  his  city's  progress  in  art,  and 
had  filled  the  National  Park  and  the  Botanic  Gardens 


250    FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA   [ch.  xi 

with  statues  and  busts  more  notable  for  quantity  than 
quality — but  the  intention  was  good,  though  the  ex- 
penditure was  large.  I  believe  that  he  had  originated 
the  motto  of  the  Federation :  "  One  People,  One 
Destiny/' 

Jersey's  speech  was  extremely  well  received,  though 
his  reference  to  the  Union  of  the  Saxon  Heptarchy  as 
precursor  to  that  of  the  Australian  States  enabled  one 
of  the  papers  to  indulge  next  day  in  witticisms.  It 
declared  that  it  had  greatly  perplexed  the  audience, 
some  thinking  that  "  Heptarchy "  was  the  name  of 
one  of  His  Excellency's  ancestors  who  had  fought  at 
Crecy — others  that  it  was  a  kind  of  cake ! 

Next  day  began  the  serious  work  of  the  Convention. 
Delegates  were  present  from  the  six  Australian  Colonies  ; 
there  were  also  three  New  Zealanders,  including  the 
celebrated  Sir  George  Grey,  who  held  a  *'  watching 
brief  "  to  see  what  the  Australians  were  doing,  though 
New  Zealand  had  no  intention  of  federating  with  the 
others.  She  was  quite  right,  for  although  in  those 
days  people  were  apt  to  think  of  New  Zealand  as  part 
of  "  Australasia,"  she  is  too  far  ofi  and  too  different 
in  origin  and  natural  conditions  to  form  a  portion  of 
what  is  a  very  distinct  continent. 

No  doubt  the  most  intellectual  and  probably  efficient 
member  of  the  Convention  was  the  President,  Sir 
Samuel  Griffith,  Chief  Justice  of  Queensland  and 
afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  the  High  Court  of  Australia. 
It  is  not  for  me  to  attempt  a  summary  of  the  debates 
and  of  all  the  questions  to  which  they  gave  rise,  naturally 
the  most  difficult  being  the  relations  between  the  States. 
No  doubt  the  result  ultimately  achieved  did  credit  to 
the  statesmanship  of  many  who  took  part.  Probably 
the  weakest  point  was  leaving  to  the  separate  States 


THE  DELEGATES  251 

every  power  not  expressly  transferred  to  the  Common- 
wealth ;  in  Canada  everything  not  expressly  reserved 
to  the  Provinces  went  to  the  Dominion,  which  certainly 
tends  to  closer  union.  However,  this  is  looking  a 
good  deal  ahead. 

One  of  the  points  which  seemed  to  add  interest, 
perhaps  dignity,  to  the  convention  was  the  great  size 
of  the  delegates.  They  averaged  over  six  feet  in 
height,  arid  I  really  forget  how  many  pounds  avoir- 
dupois in  weight — but  something  quite  remarkable. 
Australian  legislators  were  undoubtedly  of  sturdy 
growth,  and  whatever  else  they  favoured  had  a  great 
predilection  for  tea.  I  sometimes  attended  debates 
in  New  South  Wales  Parliament.  My  husband  was 
precluded  from  doing  so,  but  members  seemed  to  think 
it  rather  a  compliment  that  I  should  be  present.  How- 
ever exciting  the  discussion,  and  whoever  the  orator, 
as  sure  as  six  o'clock  struck  a  cry  of  "  Tea,  tea,  tea  !  " 
arose  from  all  sides  of  the  house,  and  out  rushed  every- 
body to  refresh  himself  before  returning  to  duty. 

The  great  antagonist  to  Sir  Henry  Parkes  was  Mr., 
afterwards  Sir  George,  Dibbs.  He  was  an  immense 
man,  who  had  had  a  varied  career,  but  was  generally 
esteemed  for  his  direct  and  downright  honesty.  When 
in  his  turn  he  became  head  of  the  Government  he 
was  noted  as  the  first  Australian-born  Premier.  When 
we  first  arrived  in  the  Colony  he  was  supposed  to  have 
Ilepublican  tendencies,  but  these  seemed  gradually, 
indeed  rapidly,  to  evaporate.  While  we  were  in  Aus- 
tralia he  paid  his  first  visit  to  England,  where  many 
])rominent  people,  including  our  family  and  friends, 
paid  him  much  attention.  The  final  touch  was  put  by 
the  Prince  of  Wales  (afterwards  King  Edward),  who 
had   discovered   his  liking   for  a   big  cigar,   and    with 


252    FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA    [ch.  xi 

unfailing  tact  lie  gave  him  one  to  smoke.  Dibbs 
said,  "  No,  he  should  keep  it,*'  whereupon  the  Prince 
replied  that  he  was  to  smoke  that,  and  he  would  give 
him  another.  Of  course  this  got  into  the  Sydney 
papers,  and  when  the  traveller  returned  the  street 
boys  used  to  shout  out,  "  Geordie,  whereas  the  cigar 
the  Prince  of  Wales  gave  you  I  " 

The  papers  afforded  us  endless  amusement  during 
his  trip.  They  used  to  come  out  with  heavy  headlines. 
"  Dibbs  meets  one  King — several  Princes,"  etc.  "  Dibbs 
visits  the  Queen,"'  and  on  one  occasion,  mixed  up  with 
it  all,  "  Lady  Leigh  desires  that  Dibbs  should  bring 
out  Lord  Jersey's  son."  The  Bulletin  had  a  wicked 
page  of  drawings  caricaturing  Parkes'  wrath  as  he 
read  these  items. 

Dibbs  returned  a  rabid  imperialist.  I  said  to  him 
one  day,  "  I  suppose  that  talk  of  republicanism  was 
only  your  fun  ?  "    "  Only  my  fun,"  was  his  hasty  reply. 

The  Chief  Justice,  Sir  Frederick  Darley,  and  his 
delightful  wife  and  family  were  among  our  greatest 
friends.  Sir  Frederick  was  a  tall,  handsome  man ; 
his  resemblance  to  my  father  was  often  noticed  by  those 
who  knew  them  both.  Lady  Darley  was  a  very  cul- 
tivated woman,  sister  to  Rolf  Boldrewood,  author  of 
Robbery  under  Arms,  whose  real  name  was  Thomas 
Browne. 

Lady  Darley  was  great  at  **  spirit- drawing " — a 
power  in  which  she  quite  honestly  believed.  It  was 
curious,  but  I  think  instinctive.  She  would  take  a 
pencil  between  her  fingers,  and  talk  and  look  about  the 
room  while  the  pencil  drew  shading  on  a  sheet  of  paper. 
Ultimately  the  shading  would  evolve  a  large  head  with 
no  outline  but  the  shadow.  Once  when  in  after  years 
the  Darleys  were  staying  at  Middleton  Lady   Darley 


THE    BLUE   MOUNTAINS  253 

showed  her  powers  at  my  request,  and  another  lady 
who  was  among  our  guests  confided  to  me  afterwards 
that  she  had  produced  an  exact  portrait  of  a  relative 
long  since  dead  who  had  held  my  friend  in  great  affec- 
tion. I  am  certain  that  Lady  Darley  did  not  know  of 
this  person's  existence — the  result  must  be  left  between 
telepathy  and  imagination !  Aiiyhow,  these  mystic 
powers  never  interfered  with  Lady  Darley's  care  for 
her  family  a'nd  for  her  duties  to  the  comnmnity — she 
was  a  real  influence  for  good.  She  and  Sir  Frederick 
have  now  passed  away,  but  some  of  their  daughters 
live  in  England  and  are  still  among  our  friends. 

Sir  Frederick  had  built  a  charming  house  in  the 
Blue  Mountains  called  Lilianfels  after  a  daughter  who 
had  died  in  youth.  It  was  situated  on  a  high  plateau 
among  most  romantic  scenery — deep  ravines  and  almost 
inaccessible,  thickly  wooded  valleys.  One  of  these 
valleys  plays  a  leading  part  in  Robbery  under  Arms, 
the  bushranging  hero  Starlight  having  his  lair  among  the 
rocks.  A  railway  had  been  made  to  this  high  ground, 
twisting  and  turning  in  extraordinary  fashion,  tradition 
said  because  the  engineer  wanted  to  pay  constant  visits 
to  an  innkeeper's  daughter  at  a  house  somewhere  on 
the  way.  Once  at  Katoomba,  beyond  which  lay  Lilian- 
fels, the  difficulty  for  the  pedestrian  would  not  be  to 
scale  mountains,  but  to  descend  into  the  valleys,  and  in 
our  time  not  many  people  attempted  it.  Tourists, 
however,  came  up  to  admire  the  splendid  views  and 
the  picturesque  waterfalls,  and  to  vie^it  the  famous 
Jenolan  caves  in  the  same  neighbourhood. 

The  whole  formation  of  the  valleys  and  caves  showed 
that  this  part  of  the  mountain-range  had  been  in  bygone 
ages  cliffs  washed  by  the  sea.  The  Jenolan  caves  were 
long  labyrinths  full  of   stalactites  and   stalagmites  of 


254     FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA   [ch.  xi 

wonderful  forms  and  colours.  About  two  miles  had 
been  opened  up  when  we  were  there,  doubtless  much 
more  has  since  become  accessible.  Some  of  us  climbed 
down  a  primitive  iron  ladder  to  view  a  mystical  under- 
ground river,  source  unknown.  I  seized  on  it  with 
joy  for  a  child's  story  which  I  published  later  on. 

I  believe  that  there  is  now  a  fine  hotel  near  the  caves, 
but  when  we  spent  a  night  there  we  found  a  very  primi- 
tive hostelry  ;  and  as  we  were  a  party  of  nine,  including 
the  Duchess  of  Buckingham  and  her  cousin  Miss  Murray, 
I  am  afraid  we  left  little  accommodation  for  other 
arrivals.  We  were  unconscious  of  the  inconvenience  to 
which  we  were  putting  them  until  some  time  afterwards, 
when  a  little  publication  was  sent  us  anonymously. 
It  appears  that  a  public  room  which  had  been  allotted 
to  us  as  a  dining-room  had  been  turned  into  a  bedroom 
for  two  travellers  after  we  had  retired.  Now  this 
hotel  was  strictly  Pussyfoot,  and  my  husband,  having 
been  warned,  had  brought  his  own  wine  for  our  Party. 
He  left  two  bottles  in  the  room,  and  our  successors 
frankly  confessed  that  they  had  carried  them  ofi  in 
triumph  and  shared  the  contents  with  their  companions 
without  saying  where  they  had  found  them.  The 
writer  in  the  account  sent  us  said  that  he  did  not  imagine 
that  the  Governor  knew  how  he  had  hampered  the 
other  guests  and  did  not  suppose  that  he  realised  the 
fate  of  his  wine  until  he  read  this  account.  I  must 
say  that  we  were  more  amused  than  annoyed  !  All 
this  happened  long  after  our  landing  in  the  country, 
but  thinking  of  the  Darleys  recalls  our  visit  to  my 
memory. 

The  Chief  Justice  in  each  Colony  was  a  great  per- 
sonality, and  in  due  course  Sir  Frederick  became  in 
addition  Lieutenant-Governor,  succeeding  in  that  office 


SIR  ALFRED  STEPHEN  255 

dear  old  Sir  Alfred  Stephen,  wlio  held  it  when  we 
arrived.  Sir  Alfred  was  a  member  of  the  English  family 
which  has  given  so  many  distinguished  luminaries  to 
the  Bar,  and  he  worthily  upheld  their  traditions  at 
the  Antipodes.  He  had  been  in  Tasmania  before  settling 
in  New  South  Wales,  had  been  twice  married,  and  had 
had  nine  children  by  each  wife,  nine  born  in  each 
Colony,  and,  if  I  remember  rightly,  nine  sons  and  nine 
daughters  in  all.  With  sons,  daughters,  sons-in-law, 
daughters-in-law,  and  other  relatives  his  connections 
played  such  a  prominent  part  in  Sydney  society  that 
my  A.D.C.  brother  found  it  advisable  to  devote  certain 
pages  in  the  Government  House  invitation  book  to 
"  Sir  Alfred  Stephen's  family,"  instead  of  entering 
them  in  the  usual  alphabetical  lists. 

Sir  Alfred  was  a  delightful  and  intellectual  man  with 
great  devotion  to  philanthropic  schemes.  On  one 
point  only  I  was  disposed  to  difEer  from  him — namely, 
he  was  extremely  anxious  to  facilitate  divorce  and  was 
much  too  serious  in  the  matter  to  see  the  comic  side 
of  some  of  the  American  reasons  for  separation.  Quite 
late  in  life,  after  being  nearly  bald  his  hair  began  to 
grow  again,  and  he  proudly  called  attention  to  his 
newly  flowing  locks. 

I  cannot  name  all  the  Ministers.  Some  had  (much 
to  their  credit)  risen  from  quite  lowly  positions  ;  others 
like  Sir  Frank  Suttor,  belonged  to  old  Australian 
families — indeed  while  we  were  in  Australia  a  child  of 
the  sixth  generation  was  born  to  the  Suttors,  quite  a 
record  in  such  a  young  country. 

The  general  rule  was  while  in  Sydney  the  Governor 
and  his  wife  could  only  receive  private  hospitality  from 
the  Chief  Justice,  Lieutenant-Governor,  Admiral  com- 
manding the  Station,  and  the  Anglican  and    Roman 


256    FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA   [ch.  xi 

Catliolic  Primates.  Apart  from  these  they  could  attend 
any  ball  or  function  given  by,  I  think,  six  joint  hosts 
— as  for  instance  the  Squatters'  Ball,  a  Club  dinner,  or 
a  Charity  Entertainment.  It  was  a  wise  rule  on  the 
whole,  as  it  would  have  been  exceedingly  difficult  to 
discriminate  among  hosts  and  hostesses  without  giving 
offence ;  and  personally  I  was  very  glad  that  the 
Ministers  and  their  wives  should  not  have  been  even 
indirectly  called  upon  to  entertain  us,  as  most  of  them 
were  anything  but  rich,  and  yet  had  one  begun  the 
custom  others  might  have  felt  bound  to  follow.  Up 
the  country  it  was  different — when  we  visited  the 
different  Districts  for  agricultural  shows,  opening  of 
school  buildings,  or  general  inspections,  it  was  fully 
recognised  that  prominent  people  should  receive  us, 
and  I  cannot  say  enough  of  their  kindness  and  hos- 
pitality. 

Indeed,  open-handed  hospitality  was  the  rule  in 
Australia,  and  the  squatters  and  landowners,  such  as 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Osborne,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Hay,  and  many 
others  of  our  hosts  and  friends,  seemed  never  to  regard 
their  own  convenience  if  they  could  make  their  guests 
happy. 

Among  the  oldest  families  was  that  of  Mrs.  Macarthur 
Onslow,  whose  ancestor  had  introduced  merino  sheep 
into  New  South  Wales,  and  who  was — and  is — uni- 
versally respected  in  the  State. 

Looking  back  on  our  various  expeditions,  I  realise 
that  our  visits  must  often  have  been  no  small  tax  in 
remote  places  and  in  houses  where  servants  were 
necessarily  few.  Quite  rich  people,  having  to  our 
knowledge  lands  and  flocks  bringing  in  thousands  a 
year,  would  have  only  three  or  four  servants — the 
daughters  of  the  house  would  do  much  of  the  work, 


DOMESTIC   CONDITIONS  257 

and  visitors  would  be  quite  prepared  to  lielp  in  making 
butter  and  cakes.  A  good  deal  that  had  been  said 
in  England  about  the  splendid  times  which  servants 
had  overseas  struck  me  on  nearer  observation  as  capable 
of  being  looked  at  from  quite  another  point  of  view. 
For  instance,  much  was  made  at  one  time  of  maid- 
servants having  horses  to  ride.  When  the  nearest 
town  was  perhaps  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  oS,  when  a 
horse  cost  £5  or  £10,  was  never  groomed,  and  when 
the  rider  himself  or  herself  caught  and  saddled  him  as 
wanted,  riding  was  not  such  an  exceptional  privilege. 

Again,  it  was  true  that  wages  were  about  double 
what  they  were  in  England,  but  accommodation  was 
much  rougher,  and  servants  were  expected  to  help  in 
every  department  as  required — no  question  of  saying 
"  that  is  not  my  place.''  I  am  speaking  of  nearly 
thirty  years  ago,  but  certainly  almost  all  the  servants 
whom  we  took  out  returned  with  us  to  England. 

This  also  applies  to  any  remarks  about  social  con- 
ditions. As  I  said  before.  Lord  Derby  was  most  regular 
in  writing,  and  begged  for  any  news  which  I  could 
send  him.  Having  been  Colonial  Secretary,  he  retained 
great  interest  in  the  Dominions.  He  told  me  in  one 
letter  that  he  was  keeping  mine,  as  he  thought  they 
might  be  of  use  hereafter,  and  after  his  death  a  number 
were  returned  to  me.  I  have  also  preserved  many 
of  his  ;  but  looking  through  them,  both  his  and  mine 
refer  so  largely  to  topics  of  the  day  in  both  hemispheres 
that  I  hardly  think  that  voluminous  extracts  can  be  of 
much  present  interest. 

I,  however,  quote  a  few.  In  one  of  his  first  letters 
he  says  : 

"  Writing  to  Australia  is  no  easy  matter.  What 
can  one  say  to  a  friend  who  has  met  with  reverses  ? 


268    FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA   [ch.  xi 

And  surely  there  is  no  greater  reverse  in  life  than  being 
turned  upside  down.  Does  it  pay  to  be  a  constitutional 
monarch  turned  wrong- side  up  ?  " 

To  which  I  replied : 

''  Your  reversed  friend  was  delighted  to  get  your 
letter  ;  though,  as  my  little  boy  says  when  told  that  he 
is  upside  down,  '  No,  we  are  standing  straight,  it  is 
the  people  in  England  who  are  standing  on  their  heads 
now,^  which  shows  that  he  is  rapidly  imbibing  Aus- 
tralian theories,  and  believes  that  whatever  be  the 
follies  of  the  Old  World,  we  in  New  South  Wales  must 
be  aU  right/' 

I  do  not  think  that  I  felt  upside  down,  but  nevertheless 
I  had  from  time  to  time  the  feeling  of  having  been 
buried  and  dug  up  again.  Born  and  brought  up  in  a 
very  old  house,  and  having  both  lived  and  travelled 
almost  entirely  among  what  was  ancient,  it  was  a 
strange  experience  to  live  where  there  were  no  relics 
of  an  Old  World,  and  hardly  any  spot  where  history 
had  been  made  in  the  long  ago.  On  the  other  hand, 
Australia  looked  bravely  forward,  and  was,  and  is, 
building  for  the  future.  As  Lord  Derby  put  it  in  another 
letter  : 

"  I  trust  you  enjoy  colonial  society  and  antipodean 
politics  which  at  least  have  the  charm  of  greater  hope- 
fulness than  we  can  indulge  in  in  this  used  up  old 
country." 

Some  of  his  accounts  might  almost  have  been  written 
to-day  ;   for  instance,  July  1891  : 

"  The  Labour  party  seems  quite  as  lively  with  you  as 
it  is  here.  Questions  of  that  class  will  play  a  consider- 
able part  at  the  coming  elections,and  many  candidates 
who  call  themselves  conservative  will  swallow  pledges 
more  than  half  socialistic." 


CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   LORD  DERBY    259 
And  again  in  November  : 

"  Speeches  are  constantly  made  but  seldom  read. 
England  is  sick  of  the  Irish  question  (!)  but  has  no 
other  ready  to  put  in  its  place.  Claims  for  shorter 
hours  and  higher  wages  are  rising  in  every  trade  and 
business,  and  this  is  the  only  subject  that  really  touches 
public  opinion  ;  it  is  not,  however,  an  easy  one  for 
candidates  to  make  capital  out  of,  for  opinion  in  the 
electoral  masses  has  not  pronounced  in  favour  of  or 
against  a  compulsory  eight  hours  ;  which  is  the  main 
question  in  dispute.  The  cat  has  not  jumped  yet, 
when  it  does  pledges  and  opinions  will  be  swallowed,  and 
a  dishonest  scramble  will  follow.'' 

Many  cats  have  jumped  since  then,  but  the  main 
outlines  of  politics  are  not  essentially  different. 

I  confess  that  I  was  impressed  by  the  extent  to  which 
the  problem  of  the  unemployed  existed  in  a  country 
with  apparently  limitless  possibilities.  Meetings  of 
these  men  took  place  constantly  near  the  Queen's 
Statue  during  1892,  and  perhaps  a  portion  of  a  letter 
which  I  wrote  to  Lord  Derby  may  be  worth  recording 
as  at  least  a  first-hand  impression  of  what  took  place 
at  the  time. 

"As  to.  the  unemployed,  they  present  the  usual 
features  of  the  class,  somewhat  intensified  by  local 
colour.  A  kind  Government  not  only  provides  a  free 
Labour  Bureau  to  meet  their  case,  but  has  obtained 
for  them  certain  buildings  belonging  to  the  Munici- 
pality as  sleeping  and  smoking-rooms,  and  to  the 
'  married  destitute  '  is  now  distributing  orders  for  free 
rations.  I  understand  that  about  9,0U0  entered  their 
names  on  the  books  of  the  Lal)our  Bureau,  but  only 
some  200  have  so  far  proved  themselves  qualified  for 
free  rations.  What  I  am,  however,  trying  hard  to 
make  out  is  why,  when  everyone  tells  you  *  there  is 
work  for  everyone  in  this  country  if  he  likes ' — '  everyone 


260    FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF   AUSTRALIA   [oh.  xi 

can  make  money  here  ' — '  this  is  the  working-man's 
paradise/  etc.,  etc.,  there  should  be  such  numbers  of 
men  out  of  work  and  undoubtedly  so  much  real  desti- 
tution. Possibly  two  incidents  which  have  occurred 
lately  may  assist  in  the  solution  of  the  problem.  A 
contractor  took  a  number  of  men  from  the  Labour 
Bureau  to  do  certain  works  near  the  Harbour.  He 
tried  to  sort  them  with  a  view  to  giving  the  less  efficient 
6s.  a  day,  the  others  to  have  7s.  or  8s.  a  day  when  proved 
capable  of  earning  it.  They  all  struck,  and  even  the 
Minister  for  Works  backed  them  up,  saying  the  con- 
tractor must  not  do  that — he  must  give  all  the  men 
standard  wages,  but  might  send  away  the  inefficient 
ones  and  have  others  in  their  place.'* 

Of  course  the  wages  in  Australia  have  risen  enormously 
in  the  last  twenty-five  years.  At  the  time  I  wrote,  as 
far  as  I  recollect,  miners  had  about  14s.  a  day  and  other 
skilled  labourers  somewhere  from  10s.  to  13s.  The  men 
employed  by  the  contractor  were  probably  unskilled. 
I  continue  my  letter  : 

"  Yesterday  I  visited  a  large  Government  Asylum  for 
women  ...  no  poor  law  here.  It  comes  to  exactly  the 
same  thing,  only,  instead  of  the  rates,  Government 
supports  the  institution.  But  the  interesting  thing  was 
this — connected  with  this  women's  asylum  is  a  farm, 
and  the  Matron's  husband  (an  ex  P.  &  0.  captain)  has 
voluntarily  taken  it  in  hand.  He  wanted  labour,  and 
observed  that  in  a  neighbouring  Government  Asylum 
for  men  there  are  numbers  of  men  capable  of  doing 
plenty  of  work,  but  not  up  to  the  7s.  to  10s.  a  day 
standard.  He  asked  permission  to  have  some  of  these 
men,  and  has  now  about  40  employed  about  the  farm, 
giving  them  board  and  lodging  at  this  Women's  Asylum 
and  from  M,  to  Is.  a  day.  I  saw  some  at  M.  doing 
4ft.  draining,  and  I  talked  to  one,  a  bricklayer,  who  was 
doing  excellent  work  for  Is.  a  day.  I  calculated  with 
the  Master  what  his  board  and  lodging  were  worth 


LABOUR  LEGISLATION  261 

(meat  about  2hd.  lb.)  and  it  came  to  about  Is.  a  day,  so 
with  Is.  wages  on  six  days  that  was  about  13,s.  a  week/' 

I  remark  that  had  Trade  Unions  found  out  that  these 
men,  whom  masters  would  not  employ  at  full  rates, 
were  working  instead  of  sitting  with  folded  hands,  it 
would  doubtless  have  been  stopped.  Meantime,  though 
ancient  history,  this  is  not  altogether  unenlightening. 

One  rather  amusing  incident  took  place  in  Parliament. 
"  Eight  hours  "  was  the  Trade  Union  rule,  but  was  not 
enforced  by  law  at  the  time  of  which  I  write.  A  measure 
was  brought  into  the  Legislative  Assembly  (the  Lower 
House)  to  make  it  legally  obligatory.  First  came  the 
preamble,  which  was  accepted,  then  Clause  Two  stating 
that  Eight  Hours  should  be  the  legal  working-day, 
which  was  passed  with  acclamation,  then  the  various 
clauses  with  penalties  attached  which  would  oblige 
employers  and  employed  to  abide  by  the  new  law.  All 
these  were  promptly  negatived.  It  seems  to  have 
struck  somebody  that  two  clauses  expressing  an  aca- 
demic opinion  looked  a  little  isolated,  so  a  member 
brought  forward  a  third  clause  stating  that  nobody  w^as 
to  be  obliged  to  work  eight  hours  if  he  did  not  want  to 
do  so.  This  was  accepted  with  equal  unanimity,  and 
the  Bill  stood  practically  thus :  1st.  Name.  2nd. 
Eight  hours  is  a  legal  working-day.  3rd.  No  one  is 
obliged  to  work  eight  hours.  I  believe  that  the  whole 
thing  evaporated  in  a  burst  of  laughter  and  never  went 
to  the  Upper  House,  but  of  course  every  sort  of  stringent 
regulation  as  to  working-hours  has  come  in  since. 

However,  the  immediate  sequel  of  this  legislative 
effort  deserves  record.  A  ship  came  into  Sydney 
Harbour  and  stevedores  were  enlisted  to  unload  it. 
After  eight  hours'  work  they  wanted  to  go  on  so  as  to 
get  overtime  pay.     "  Not  at  all/'  said  the  captain,  "  1 

16 


262    FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OF    AUSTRALIA    [oh.  xi 

am  in  no  hurry.  Eight  hours  is  a  legal  working-day, 
and  I  am  not  going  to  break  the  law/'  Whereupon 
they  all  struck  because  they  were  not  allowed  to  work 
overtime !  This  is  enough  on  this  burning  question, 
which  is  certainly  not  peculiar  to  Australia. 

Before  leaving  Lord  Derby's  letters  a  few  extracts 
with  regard  to  European  foreign  affairs  may  be  of 
interest.     In  March  "91  he  writes  : 

"  Every  thing  and  person  on  the  Continent  is  quiet ; 
even  the  German  Emperor.  At  least  he  has  not  been 
emitting  any  oracles  lately.  He  is  said  to  have  grown 
tired  of  Caprivi,  and  another  change  is  talked  of.  There 
is  a  vague  idea  about  that  he  is  *  going  queer."  I  don't 
know  that  it  rests  on  any  authority." 

In  the  same  letter,  though  this  did  not  then  concern 
foreign  politics,  he  says  : 

"  The  only  rising  man  I  hear  of  is  on  the  Gladstonian 
side — young  Sir  Edward  Grey,  grandson  of  old  Sir 
George,  once  Home  Secretary.  He  is  making  a  name 
as  an  effective  debater." 

Even  Lord  Derby  could  not  foresee  under  what 
circumstances  these  two  men,  the  Kaiser  and  Sir  Edward, 
would  become  protagonists  twenty-three  years  later ! 
He  also  speaks  of  the  "  rising  celebrity,"  Rudyard 
Kipling.     In  the  following  May  he  says  : 

"  Foreign  affairs  seem  quiet  all  over  Europe ;  I  am 
not  behind  the  scenes,  but  I  know  that  the  diplomatists 
expect  no  early  disturbance.  The  Czar  would  scarcely 
indulge  in  the  pleasing  pastime  of  baiting  his  Jews,  if 
he  looked  forward  to  wanting  a  loan.  Besides,  he  hates 
soldiering,  and  takes  some  interest  in  finance.  The 
German  Emperor  has  been  making  a  fool  of  himself, 
which  is  nothing  new ;  he  delivered  a  speech  the  other 


THE   EX-KAISER  263 

day,  in  which  he  praised  the  beer-swilling  and  duelling 
of  German  students  as  being  the  most  efiective  influences 
to  keep  up  the  true  German  character !  He  is  an 
energetic  young  savage,  and  that  is  the  best  one  can 
say." 

It  should  be  remembered  that  the  Czar  who  indulged 
in  "  the  pleasing  pastime  of  Jew  baiting"  was  not  the 
luckless  Nicholas  II  so  brutally  murdered — a  victim,  say 
some,  to  the  baited  Jews — but  his  father,  Alexander  III, 
whom  he  succeeded  in  1894. 

In  July  Lord  Derby  refers  to  the  visit  of  the  German 
p]mperor  at  the  beginning  of  the  month  : 

"  He  has  been  ramping  up  and  down,  seeing  every- 
thing, questioning  everybody,  intent  on  making  the 
most  of  his  time,  and  keeping  all  the  world  in  the  con- 
dition of  fuss  and  bustle  which  is  the  element  in  which 
he  lives.  It  is  almost  too  soon  to  judge  the  effect  of  his 
visit.  I  should  say  that  he  was  popular  rather  than 
otherwise ;  not  from  his  manners,  which  are  queer  and 
rather  blunt ;  but  there  is  a  certain  simplicity  about 
him  which  pleases,  as  when  he  told  the  Windsor  people, 
in  answer  to  an  address,  that  he  had  come  '  to  see  his 
grandmamma,  who  had  always  been  kind  to  him.'  He 
had  a  good  reception  in  the  city,  though  not  so  enthusi- 
astic as  the  press  makes  out.  There  was  about  as  nmch 
interest  shown  in  his  state  entry  as  in  an  ordinary  Lord 
Mayor's  Show.  He  is  understood  to  be  well  satisfied, 
and  the  visit  has  given  people  a  subject  to  talk  about, 
which  they  were  beginning  to  want.  None  now  lasts 
longer  than  a  week.  By  that  time,  journalistic  enter- 
prise has  said  whatever  is  to  be  said,  and  the  public 
grows  weary.  I  am  afraid  one  effect  of  this  German 
visit  will  be  to  put  the  French  in  a  bad  humour,  though 
with  no  good  reason.     But  that  cannot  be  helped." 

Lord  Derby  seems  to  have  been  somewhat  reassured, 
as  in  August,  after  touching  on  home  affairs,  he  writes  : 


264    FIRST   IMPRESSIONS    OP   AUSTRALIA   [ch.  xi 

"  The  other  event  is  more  important :  the  visit  of 
the  French  fleet  to  Portsmouth,  where  it  has  been 
reviewed  by  the  Queen,  and  civilities  of  every  kind  have 
been  exchanged.  I  call  the  matter  important,  because 
the  visit  of  the  German  Emperor  made  a  great  feeling 
of  soreness  in  France,  and  led  to  endless  talk  about 
England  having  joined  the  anti-gallican  alliance.  All 
that  nonsense  is  ended  by  the  courtesy  shown  to  French 
officers  :  and  the  relations  of  the  two  countries,  if  not 
absolutely  cordial,  are  again  comfortable.  The  busi- 
ness was  well  managed  and  does  credit  to  the  people 
in  Downing  Street." 

Lord  Derby  continued  to  send  most  interesting  news, 
but  unfortunately  some  of  his  later  letters  are  missing, 
and  alas !  he  died  in  the  spring  of  1893,  so  I  never  saw 
my  kind  and  constant  friend  again. 

I  never  saw  the  following  lines  published.  They 
were  given  me  by  Lady  Galloway,  who  told  me  that 
Lord  Derby  believed  that  he  had  composed  them,  as 
he  could  not  remember  having  heard  or  read  them 
when  he  woke  with  them  in  his  mind.  She  wrote  down 
what  he  said  with  regard  to  them. 

"  Lines  made,  as  I  believe,  in  sleep,  in  the  course  of  a 
dream,  in  which  some  fellow- student  had  asked  me  to 
complete  a  poem  which  he  was  sending  in  : 

"  We  judge  but  acts — not  ours  to  look  within : 
The  crime  we  censure,  but  ignore  the  ein : 
For  who  tho'  versed  in  every  legal  art 
Can  trace  the  mazes  of  the  human  heart, 
Allow  for  nature,  training,  faults  of  race 
And  friendships  such  as  make  us  brave  or  base, 
Or  judge  how  long  yon  felon  in  his  cell 
Resisted,  struggled — conquered  ere  he  fell  ? 
Our  judgments  skim  the  surface  of  tho  seas, 
We  have  no  sounding-line  for  depths  like  these. 

Jan.  1893,  5  to  7  a.m." 


LORD   DERBY'S   POEM  265 

One  or  two  imperfect  lines  follow.  The  idea  recalls 
Burns's  "  Address  to  the  Unco'  Guid"  : 

"  Then  at  tho  balance  let's  be  mut«, 
Wo  never  can  adjust  it ; 
What's  jione  we  partly  may  ooinputo. 
But  know  not  what's  resisted." 

Lord  Derby,  however,  goes  deeper  into  the  springs 
of  action.  Verses  composed  in  sleep  are  by  no  means 
uncommon,  but  apart  from  Coleridge's  "  Kubla  Khan,'' 
are  perhaps  seldom  as  consecutive  as  these. 


CHAPTER  XII 

FURTHER  AUSTRALIAN  IMPRESSIONS — NEW  ZEALAND  AND 
NEW   CALEDONIA 

Lady  Galloway  came  out  to  us  towards  the  end  of  1891, 
and  in  January  she  accompanied  us  on  one  of  our 
amusing  expeditions.  This  time  it  was  about  three 
days'  tour  through  a  hilly — indeed  mountainous  country. 
The  hills  in  Australia  do  not,  as  a  rule,  attain  great 
height ;  it  is  because  they  are  so  ancient  in  the  world's 
history  that  they  have  been  worn  down  by  the  storms 
of  ages  and  the  ravages  of  time.  We  went,  however,  to 
open  another  range  of  caverns  of  the  same  kind  as  the 
Jenolan  Caves.  These,  the  Yarrangobilly  Caves,  had 
been  explored,  and  to  a  certain  extent  excavated,  within 
more  recent  years,  and  were  now  to  be  made  accessible 
to  tourists. 

Mr.  Dibbs  and  other  officials  and  Members  of  Parlia- 
ment, notably  some  Labour  Members,  came  also ;  and 
a  mixed  multitude,  said  to  amount  to  about  five  hundred 
people  in  all,  took  part  more  or  less  in  what  was  called 
"  The  Governor's  Picnic." 

These  did  not  follow  us  all  through  the  hills,  but 
camped  in  the  valley  near  the  caves.  Here  a  comic 
incident  occurred.  For  the  first  part  of  the  tour  we 
were  in  one  district,  for  the  last  in  another,  but  somehow 
in  the  middle  we  fell  between  two  stools.  In  Number 
One  and  Number  Three  we  were  entertained  by  hosts 
who  displayed  the  usual  lavish  hospitality,  and  all  the 

266 


YARRANGOBILLY   CAVES  2G7 

way  we  were  conveyed  by  kindly  charioteers,  and 
accompanied  by  a  splendid  voluntary  mounted  escort, 
but  in  Number  Two,  the  valley  near  the  caves,  some- 
thing had  gone  wrong.  A  wooden  hut  with  several 
rooms  had  been  prepared  for  our  reception,  but  no 
food  !  It  was  a  sort  of  debatable  ground,  and  either 
through  misunderstanding  or,  as  was  hinted,  through 
local  jealousy,  it  was  nobody's  business  to  act  host  on 
the  border  land. 

The  poor  Premier  and  other  officials  were  desperate 
when  they  discovered  our  plight,  and  in  the  end  Dibbs 
possessed  himself  of  one  of  the  troopers'  swords  and 
rushed  off  to  a  party  of  picnickers  who  were  innocently 
sitting  down  to  enjoy  the  supper  which  they  had  brought 
with  them,  asking  what  they  meant  by  eating  cold 
mutton  while  the  Governor  and  his  party  were  desti- 
tute! 

He  returned  triumphant  with  a  joint.  Meantime 
someone  had  produced  a  packet  believed  to  contain 
Brand's  Essence.  Lady  Galloway  claimed  that  she 
knew  how  to  make  soup,  so  it  was  handed  over  to  her. 
She  upset  it  all  into  a  soup  plate  full  of  water,  and  then, 
and  not  till  then,  it  was  discovered  to  be  tea !  How- 
ever, one  way  and  another,  we  were  provided  with 
sufficient  food,  and  duly  inaugurated  the  caves. 

They  were  beautiful,  but  never  have  I  been  so  hard 
pressed  for  adjectives.  The  old  guide  whom  we  also 
met  in  the  Jcnolan  Caves  had  been  put  on  duty  at 
the  Yarrangobilly  excavations  for  the  occasion.  He 
stopped  our  party  of  six  or  seven  people  before  each 
particular  stalagmite  or  stalactite,  and  would  not 
move  on  till  eacli  of  us  in  turn  had  ejaculated  **  beauti- 
ful," "  magnificent,"  "  stupendous,"  or  some  other 
such  laudatory  word  as  suppressed  laughter  enabled 


268  FURTHER  AUSTRALIAN  IMPRESSIONS   [oh.  xn 

us  to  utter,  for  it  became  a  sort  of  game  not  to  repeat 
what  our  companions  had  said. 

The  following  day  an  early  start  took  us  to  Tumut, 
where  we  had  a  great  reception  and  excellent  entertain- 
ment. We  were,  however,  not  allowed  to  enter  the 
town  for  our  first  greetings.  As  we  drew  near  it,  about 
9  a.m.  we  perceived  a  table  with  a  white  cloth  and 
several  men  standing  round  it  in  a  field  ("  paddock  " 
is  the  correct  term  in  Australia).  The  wagonette  was 
stopped,  we  were  requested  to  get  out,  and  we  found 
that  the  magistrates  of  the  district  were  waiting  there 
with  champagne,  forestalling  the  reception  prepared 
for  us  by  the  Municipality  ! 

Shortly  after  our  return  to  Hill  View,  our  summer's 
home.  Lady  Galloway,  my  brother  Rupert,  and  I  set 
ofi  on  a  trip  to  New  Zealand.  In  the  intervening  time 
the  whole  of  Australia  was  deeply  moved  by  the  terrible 
news  of  the  death  of  the  Duke  of  Clarence.  The  fact 
of  his  recent  engagement  brought  home  to  every  house- 
hold the  full  force  of  the  tragedy.  Addresses  of  con- 
dolence poured  in,  and  the  stafi  was  fully  occupied  in 
acknowledging  them  and  forwarding  them  to  England. 

We  sailed  from  Melbourne,  staying  for  a  day  at 
Hobart  in  Tasmania,  where  Lady  Hamilton,  wife  of 
Sir  Robert  Hamilton  the  Governor,  who  was  then 
absent,  took  excellent  care  of  us.  Tasmania  appeared 
to  be  a  happy,  friendly  little  place,  but  naturally  we 
had  no  time  to  see  much.  The  harbour  is  fine,  and  the 
vegetation  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  city  was  rich 
and  green  with  quite  an  English  aspect. 

We  then  took  ship  for  Dunedin,  quite  in  the  south  of 
the  South  Island.  It  took  us  about  four  days  and  the 
sea  was  by  no  means  calm. 

Dunedin  is  a  very  interesting  place  and  quite  lives  up 


DUNEDIN  260 

to  its  name,  for  it  is  a  small  edition  of  Edinburgh. 
Scotch  names  over  most  of  the  shops,  and  as  we  walked 
past  the  open  door  of  a  boys'  school  we  heard  instruc- 
tions being  given  in  a  very  decided  Scottish  accent. 
There  is  a  hill  which  recalls  the  Castle  Hill,  and  even  a 
manufacture  of  a  very  good  woollen  fabric  with  a  dis- 
tinctly plaid  character.  No  doubt  all  this  has  greatly 
developed,  but  I  trust  it  remains  true  to  its  Scottish 
origin.  It  was  fomided  in  1848  by  emigrants  repre- 
senting the  Free  Kirk  of  Scotland  who  left  after  the 
separation  from  the  Established  Church.  There  is  a 
story  that  some  of  the  first  settlers  put  up  a  notice  on 
their  land  to  the  effect  that  their  co-religionists  might 
help  themselves  to  wood  but  that  all  others  were  to  pay 
for  it.  True  fraternal  feeling,  but  it  is  hardly  consonant 
with  usual  Scottish  shrewdness  that  they  should  have 
expected  the  other  wood-gatherers  to  volunteer  payment. 

From  Dunedin  we  went  on  to  Invercargill,  the  extreme 
southern  point,  where  the  Governor,  Lord  Onslow,  had 
invited  us  to  join  him  on  the  Government  yacht,  the 
Ilinemoa,  and  there  we  found  Lady  Onslow  await- 
ing us. 

We  were  indeed  fortunate  in  sharing  in  this  expedi- 
tion. The  Onslows,  who  were  on  the  point  of  returning 
to  England,  had  arranged  a  trip  to  the  Sounds  for  which 
they  had  not  previously  found  time,  and  it  was  only  in 
their  yacht  that  we  could  have  fully  enjoyed  the  wonders 
of  these  fiords  of  the  Southern  ITeniisphere.  I  do  not 
know  how  it  is  now,  but  then  excursion  steamers  only 
went  about  four  times  a  year,  were  very  crowded,  and 
entered  a  limited  number  of  Sounds.  Lord  Onslow 
took  us  into  one  after  another,  each  more  imposing  than 
the  last.  I  was  particularly  impressed  by  the  desolate 
grandeur  of  one  said  not  to  have  been  entered  for 


270    FURTHER  AUSTRALIAN  IMPRESSIONS  [ch.  xn 

twenty-five  years.  The  mountainous  steeps  which 
guarded  it  were  in  great  part  simply  rocky  slopes,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  the  spirits  of  the  place  resented  our  in- 
trusion. In  most  of  the  other  Sounds  the  precipitous  j 
mountain  sides  were  clad  with  wildly  luxuriant  foliage, 
and  land  and  water  were  alive  with  birds,  particularly 
water-fowl.  Amongst  these  were  the  lovely  black-and- 
white  Paradise  ducks,  which  could  be  caught  with 
long- handled  nets  something  like  gigantic  butterfly 
nets. 

The  precipices  enclosing  the  Sounds  rise  in  some 
cases  five  or  six  thousand  feet  from  the  water's  edge, 
their  tops  are  snow-clad,  and  great  waterfalls  thunder 
into  the  calm  sea-inlets  below.  The  most  famous  fiord 
is  Milford  Sound,  where  is  the  great  Bowen  Fall.  So 
thick  is  the  vegetation  that  one  fallen  tree  was  pointed 
out  to  us  on  which  we  were  assured  that  500  different 
specimens  of  ferns,  creepers,  etc.,  might  be  counted. 
We  had  no  time  to  verifiy  this  statement,  but  a  hasty 
inspection  made  it  seem  not  at  all  impossible.  One 
thing  is  certain — the  mountain-side  with  its  impene- 
trable forest  descends  so  precipitously  into  the  waters 
below  that  our  yacht  of  500  tons  was  tied  up  to  an 
overhanging  tree  and  had  no  need  to  cast  anchor.  I 
think  that  there  are  seventeen  Sounds  in  all  (I  do  not 
mean  that  we  saw  so  many),  but  Milford  Sound  is  the 
only  one  which  could  be  reached  from  the  land,  and  even 
that  was,  in  our  time,  a  matter  of  great  difficulty.  For 
a  long  time  the  only  inhabitant  had  been  a  man  called 
Sutherland,  who  was  considered  a  hermit  and  peri- 
odically supplied  with  food.  He  had  discovered  about 
fourteen  miles  inland  the  great  Sutherland  waterfall, 
which  is  much  higher  than  Niagara  though  not  nearly 
so  broad. 


THE   NEW   ZEALAND  SOUNDS  271 

When  we  were  in  Milford  Sound  we  found  a  small 
band  of  convicts  who  had  been  lately  established  there 
for  the  purpose  of  making  a  road  to  the  Fall.  I  do  not 
think  that  they  were  working  very  hard,  but  they  had 
cleared  about  two  miles  of  footpath  through  the  thicket 
along  which  we  walked,  and  a  lovely  walk  it  was.  Tea 
at  the  end,  however,  was  considerably  disturbed  by 
sandflies  which  came  round  us  in  a  perfect  cloud,  so  that 
we  could  only  push  our  cups  up  under  our  veils. 

New  Zealand  sandflies  are  a  peculiarly  virulent 
species — a  large  blister  rises  directly  they  bite  you,  but 
they  have  the  saving  grace  that  they  stop  the  moment 
the  sun  sets.  They  were,  however,  the  only  drawback 
to  this  most  delightful  of  trips.  While  we  were  fighting 
them  my  brother  and  Lord  Onslow's  A.D.C.,  Captain 
Guthrie,  tried  to  push  on  to  the  Fall.  As  far  as  I 
remember,  they  got  a  distant  view  but  had  not  time  to 
reach  it.^ 

Lord  Onslow  was  a  most  considerate  nautical  host. 
We  cruised  from  Sound  to  Sound  by  night  as  a  rule, 
60  that  we  might  lie  prostrate  and  asleep  on  the  rough 
waves  which  are  apt  to  surround  those  shores,  and 
during  the  day  we  enjoyed  the  calm  waters  of  the  fiord. 

We  parted  from  the  yacht  and  from  our  kind  hosts 
with  regret,  having  arranged  to  be  again  their  guests 
at  Wellington.  Meantime  we  saw  something  of  the 
South  Island,  which,  by  the  way,  bears  the  alternative 
name  of  Middle  Lsland  New  Zealand  is  really  composed 
of  three  islands — North  Island,  the  South  or  Middle 
Island,  and  a  little  one  at   the  foot   named  Stewart 

'  I  loarn  that  nincfl  our  timo  a  hut  ha«  boon  eroctfxl  l)otwoon  Sutherland 
Falls  ami  Milford  Sound  callod  Sandfly  Hut.  Tho  guido-book  says  with 
con'V)llng  candour  that  it  "  Ih  wfil  namod,  but  thin  post  i«  no  less  notice- 
able at  any  of  thn  othor  Ht<)|)ping-plac«»." 


272  NEW  ZEALAND  [ch.  xii 

Island.  New  Zealand  claims  dominion  over  a  large 
number  of  small  islands  in  the  Pacific,  to  which  happily 
two  of  the  Samoan  group  over  which  it  exercises  a 
"  mandate  "  have  been  added  since  the  war.  Lord 
Onslow  told  us  that  shortly  before  our  visit  he  had  been 
to  settle  the  claims  of  certain  rival  Queens  of  Rara- 
tonga,  one  of  these  dependencies.  Having  decided  in 
favour  of  one  of  these  royal  ladies,  he  endowed  her 
with  a  sundial,  as  a  sign  of  supremacy,  as  he  thought 
she  could  well  assert  herself  by  "  setting  the  time  of 
day.*'  The  South  Island  is  full  of  beauty.  We  went  in 
a  steamer  up  Lake  Wakatipu.  I  cannot  attempt  a 
description  of  all  the  charms  of  this  lake  and  its  neigh- 
bourhood. Naturally  it  differed  from  the  Italian  Lakes 
in  the  absence  of  picturesque  villages  (now,  by  the  way, 
almost  swallowed  up  by  the  rows  of  villas  which  skirt 
Como  and  Maggiore),  but  on  the  other  hand  there  was 
the  fascination  of  radiant  nature  little  touched  by  the 
hand  of  man.  Probably  now  there  is  a  happy  and 
growing  population  near  Lake  Wakatipu. 

Before  we  left  South  Island  we  stayed  for  a  night 
or  two  with  my  cousin,  Edmund  Parker,  a  member 
of  Dalgetty's  firm,  who  then  lived  at  Christchurch. 
It  is  curious  that  whereas  Dunedin  owed  its  origin  to 
the  Scotch  Free  Kirk,  Christchurch,  founded  two  years 
later,  was  a  child  of  the  "  Canterbury  Association," 
which,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, Lord  Lyttelton,  and  others,  sent  out  a  body  of 
settlers  largely  drawn  from  Oxford  and  strictly  members 
of  the  Church  of  England.  They  took  up  a  tract  of 
land  and  sold  it  in  portions,  devoting  ten  shillings  out 
of  every  pound  received  to  church  and  schools  ;  their 
city  was  named  Christchurch  after  the  Cathedral  and 
College  in  Oxford,  and  the  surrounding  district  bears 


HOT   SPRINGS    OF   NEW   ZEALAND  275 

the  name  of  Canterbury.  It  stands  upon  the  river 
Avon,  the  banks  of  which  are  planted  with  willows 
said  to  have  been  originally  brought  from  Napoleon's 
Tomb  at  St.  Helena.  There  is  a  line  cathedral  copied 
from  Caen  Cathedral  in  Normandy,  and  the  whole  place 
recalls  some  city  of  the  Old  World  transplanted  to  a 
newer  and  brighter  land. 

The  story  goes  that  some  of  the  original  settlers, 
importing  classics  into  agriculture,  "  swore  at  their 
oxen  in  Greek  " — perhaps  someone  who  heard  them 
quoting  VirgiFs  Georgics  took  any  foreign  tongue  for 
Greek  oaths. 

After  crossing  to  W^ellington  and  spending  a  day  or 
two  with  the  Onslows  there,  we  set  off  again  to  visit 
the  famous  hot-lake  district  in  the  Northern  Island. 
Our  headquarters  were  at  Rotorua  and  Whakarewarewa, 
from  both  of  which  we  visited  the  marvellous  geysers, 
springs,  and  hot  lakes  with  which  the  district  abounds. 

The  great  Pink  and  WhiteTerraccs  had  been  destroyed 
by  a  mud  volcano  some  years  before  our  visit,  but  we 
saw  in  many  places  how  similar  formations  were  being 
reproduced  by  the  chemical  substances  thrown  up  by 
the  springs,  making  polished  pink-and-white  pavements 
and  even  terraces  on  a  small  scale.  To  see  the  natural 
hot  fountains  starting  up  from  the  pools  among  the 
rocks  was  entrancing.  Some  of  the  columns  play  at 
regular  intervals,  some  only  occasionally  ;  one  irregular 
performer  shoots  up  a  column  of  boiling  water  to  a 
height  sometimes  attaining  100  feet.  One  was  called 
the  Prince  of  Wales's  Feathers,  as  the  water  sprang  up 
in  that  form. 

New  Zealand  is  far  more  prolific  in  legends  than 
Australia  ;  the  Maoris  being  of  a  higher  type  than  the 
Australian    aboriginal,    naturally   handed    down   semi- 


274  NEW    ZEALAND  [ch.  xii 

historical,  semi-mytliical  traditions  of  their  ancestors. 
Among  the  prettiest  and  best-known  tales  is  that  of  , 
Hinemoa.  This  young  lady  was  the  daughter  of  the  | 
chief  of  a  powerful  tribe  whose  headquarters  was  at 
Whakarewarewa.  Among  the  many  suitors  attracted 
by  her  beauty  she  preferred  a  youth  named  Tutaneki ; 
but  though  his  mother  was  the  daughter  of  the  chief 
of  the  Island  of  Mokoia,  situated  in  the  centre  of  the 
Lake  of  Rotorua,  his  father  was  a  commoner,  and 
Hinemoa's  father  was  furious  at  the  idea  of  a  mes- 
alUa7ice.  He  dared  Tutaneki  again  to  set  foot  on  the 
mainland,  and  caused  all  the  canoes  to  be  hauled  up 
on  the  beach  to  keep  Hinemoa  from  attempting  to  join 
her  lover.  Tutaneki,  however,  was  an  accomplished 
musician,  and  every  evening  the  strains  of  his  lute 
floated  so  sweetly  over  the  waters  of  the  lake  that 
Hinemoa  could  no  longer  stand  separation.  Taking 
six  empty  gourds  as  an  improvised  life-belt,  she  swam 
the  three  miles  dividing  her  from  music  and  love. 
Fortunately,  though  numbed  by  her  exertions,  she 
landed  on  the  island  where  a  hot  spring,  still  called 
Hinemoa's  Bath,  wells  up  near  the  beach,  and  a  plunge 
into  it  soon  revived  her.  More  successful  than  Leander, 
she  was  united  to  her  lover  and  lived  with  him  peace- 
fully on  Mokoia.  Her  father  appears  to  have  reconciled 
himself  to  the  inevitable. 

At  one  moment  we  almost  thought  that  we  should 
have,  in  a  minor  degree,  to  emulate  the  performance 
of  Hinemoa.  We  arranged  to  row  across  the  Lake  to 
a  spot  on  the  shore  opposite  our  hotel,  where  we  were 
to  be  met  by  a  "  coach  "  (as  the  ordinary  vehicles  were 
called)  bringing  our  luncheon.  Somehow  first  our 
rudder  broke  away  and  then  the  boatman  seemed  to 
lose  his  head — and  anyhow  lost  one  of  his  oars.     We 


HUIA   ONSLOW  275 

were  thereby  left  helplessly  floating  at  no  great  distance 
from  the  beach,  and,  what  was  worse,  with  no  apparent 
possibility  of  securing  our  luncheon.  However,  my 
brother,  bolder  than  Tutaneki,  saved  Lady  Galloway 
and  myself  from  imitating  Hinemoa.  He  plunged 
into  the  water  and  managed  to  wade  ashore,  and  we 
soon  had  the  satisfaction  of  seeing  him  return  carrying 
the  luncheon  basket  on  his  head,  and  having  sent  a 
messenger  to  summon  another  boat  to  our  rescue. 

One  particularly  fascinating  feature  in  the  Hot  Lakes 
District  was  the  charm  of  open-air  hot  baths.  Certain 
pools  were  surrounded  by  high  palisades  rendering  them 
absolutely  private.  You  secured  a  key  and  locked 
yourself  in,  when  you  could  disport  yourself  in  natural 
hot  water  and  wade  about  under  the  trees  to  your  heart's 
content.  The  water  was  of  a  delightful  temperature, 
but  certainly  impregnated  with  chemicals,  as  I  found 
the  skin  peeling  off  my  feet  after  two  or  three  such 
baths. 

We  arrived  at  Auckland  in  time  to  witness  the  final 
send-off  of  that  most  popular  Governor,  Lord  Onslow, 
with  special  tributes  to  Lady  Onslow  and  her  baby 
eon  Huia,  who,  having  been  born  during  his  parents' 
tenure  of  office,  had  been  endowed  with  the  Maori 
chieftain's  distinctive  badge,  the  feather  of  the  Huia, 
and  was  christened  by  that  name.  Whenever  he 
appeared  the  Maoris  shouted  "  Huia  !  Huia  !  "  and, 
most  tactfully,  the  child  showed  a  preference  for 
brown  men  over  white.  Poor  Huia  grow  into  a  splendid 
and  talented  youth,  but  was  disal^led  by  an  accident 
while  diving.  Despite  his  crippled  condition  he  gal- 
lantly pursued  his  scientific  studies  till  released  by 
death  in  1922. 

Of  all  liudyuid  Kipling's  Songs  of  the  Cities  1  think 


275  NEW   ZEALAND  [ch.  xn 

the  Song  of  Auckland  best  conveys  the  claim  of  that 
vision  of  beauty  : 

"  Last,  loneliest,  loveliest,  exquisite,  apart — 
On  us,  on  us  the  unswerving  season  smiles, 
Who  wonder  'mid  our  fern  why  men  depart 
To  seek  the  Happy  Isles  !  " 

Truly,  New  Zealand  must  have  waited  while  Provi- 
dence bestowed  gifts  on  many  lands,  and  have  then 
received  a  special  bounty  from  each  store  of  blessing. 
The  strength  of  the  mountain  pass,  the  plunge  of  the 
waterfall,  the  calm  mirror  of  the  lake,  the  awe  of  the 
forest,  the  glow  of  the  flowers,  the  fertile  pasture  for 
the  flock,  the  rich  plains  for  the  corn — gold,  coal,  and 
Kauri  gum,  the  marvels  of  her  springs — all  these  and 
much  more  are  given  to  her  children,  together  with  one 
of  the  most  perfect  climates  on  the  face  of  the  earth. 
She  has  but  one  drawback — namely,  that  she  is  ringed 
round  by  some  of  the  stormiest  oceans  known  to  man. 
Perhaps  were  it  not  so  too  many  eager  pilgrims  would 
seek  this  far-ofE  Paradise  ! 

Lord  and  Lady  Onslow  returned  with  us  to  Sydney 
Government  House,  and  soon  after  left  with  their 
family  for  England.  Lady  Galloway  in  turn  sailed 
in  the  spring  (Australian  autumn),  to  my  great  regret. 
She  made  the  voyage  in  a  Messageries  boat,  accompanied 
by  the  very  pretty  daughters  of  Lord  Southesk,  Helena 
and  Dora  Carnegie. 

In  July  of  this  year  (1892)  my  husband  and  I  were 
fortunately  able  to  make  a  most  interesting  journey 
to  the  French  Colony  of  New  Caledonia.  As  is  well 
known,  certain  questions  had  arisen  from  time  to 
time  between  Australia  and  New  Caledonia,  as  the 
former  Government  asserted  that  convicts  escaped 
from  the  French  penal  colony  were  apt  to  take  refuge 


NOUMEA  277 

on  Australian  shores ;  and  since  the  total  cessation 
of  convict  transportation  from  Great  Britain  Australians 
were,  not  unnaturally,  additionally  sensitive  to  their 
arrival  from  any  other  quarter. 

Apart  from  this,  however,  the  relations  between  the 
British  and  French  "  outposts  of  Empire  "  were  very 
friendly  and  a  good  many  Australians  had  established 
themselves  as  free  settlers  in  Noumea,  the  capital  of 
New  Caledonia  ;  and  when  the  French  Government 
heard  that  Jersey  contemplated  a  visit  they  sent  word 
(as  we  learnt  later  on)  that  a  generous  sum  was  to  be 
spent  on  the  reception  of  the  first  Australian  Governor 
to  undertake  the  voyage.  Owing  to  the  fact  that  he 
had  to  await  permission  from  home  before  absenting 
himself  from  New  South  Wales,  and  as  there  w^as  then 
no  cable  to  Noumea,  we  were  unable  to  name  an  exact 
date  for  our  arrival,  which  after  some  three  days' 
voyage  took  place  on  July  13th.  We  sailed  in  a  Mes- 
sageries  boat,  the  Armand  Behic,  very  luxurious  and 
with  most  obliging  ofhcers,  but  much  too  narrow  in 
proportion  to  its  length,  which  caused  it  to  roll  even 
when  the  sea  was  perfectly  calm.  This  was  a  common 
fault  with  Messageries  boats  in  those  days.  Probably 
also  it  was  deficient  in  cargo,  as,  despite  a  large  Govern- 
ment subsidy,  this  line  was  run  to  New  Caledonia  at 
a  considerable  loss.  I  wrote  to  my  mother  describing 
our  arrival  as  follows  : 

"  We  were  received  "  (at  Noumea)  "  with  a  tremen- 
dous salute  of  guns,  after  which  the  Conscil  de  Sante 
promptly  put  the  ship  and  all  its  company  into  quaran- 
tine for  24  hours  !  \Ve  (including  Private  Secretary  and 
servants)  were  allowed  to  stay  on  board,  where  we  were 
perfectly  comfortable,  but  all  the  other  passengers 
from  the  Arm/nid  Behic  and  another  ship  arriving 
from  Sydney  at  about  the  same  time,  were  bundled  ofT 


278  NEW    CALEDONIA  [ch.  xii 

to  the  quarantine  island.  There  were  about  180  of 
them  and  accommodation  for  about  25.  What  the 
rhyme  or  reason  of  24  hours'  quarantine  was  in  a  ques- 
tion of  small-pox  which  might  appear,  if  at  all,  in  21 
days,  we  at  first  failed  to  discover,  but  the  solution — 
and  I  fancy  the  true  one — ultimately  offered  was  that 
when  our  ship  arrived  with  the  British  Ensign  flying 
there  was  an  awful  hullabaloo.  They  did  not  know  we 
were  coming  by  this  ship,  and  neither  Government 
House  nor  anything  else  was  ready;  so  they  cried, 
"  Whatever  shall  we  do  1  Happy  thought !  Small- 
pox at  Sydney — let  us  quarantine  them  till  we  have 
had  time  to  prepare.'  "  (Here  let  me  remark  that  as  a 
rule  Australia  was  absolutely  free  from  small-pox,  but 
a  few  cases  had  lately  been  brought  by  a  ship,  and  of 
course  relegated  to  the  New  South  Whales  remote 
quarantine  stations.) 

To  resume  my  letter  : 

**  It  mattered  very  little  to  us,  but  was  awfully  hard 
on  the  other  victims,  particularly  as  they  put  all  their 
worn  linen  into  some  concoction  of  chemicals  which 
utterly  spoilt  it.  Meantime  we  went  off  to  the  quaran- 
tine island  for  a  walk  and  went  up  a  hill  whence  we 
had  a  beautiful  view  of  the  harbour  which  is  lovely  .  .  . 
high  hills  of  charming  shapes  round  it  .  .  .  the  real 
glow  of  vivid  green,  red,  and  blue  which  one  imagines 
in  the  South  Pacific.  .  .  .  Well,  next  morning,  at 
9  a.m.,  we  w^ere  allowed  to  land  in  great  honour  and 
glory,  and  were  received  by  the  Mayor,  girt  with  his 
tricolour  sash,  and  all  the  Municipal  Council,  and  then 
escorted  to  Government  House,  where  everything  had 
been  prepared,  down  to  unlimited  scent-bottles,  tooth- 
brushes, and  splendidly  bound  copies  of  Byron  and 
Milton,  to  make  us  feel  at  home.  The  only  drawback 
was  that  having  once  established  us,  and  apparently 
cleaned  up  the  house  for  our  arrival,  nobody  ever 
attempted  to  dust  or  clean  in  any  way  again — and  as  it 
rained  all  the  time  after  the  first  day,  and  everyone 


THE    GOVERNOR    OF    NEW    CALEDONIA     279 

walked  everywhere,  including  in  the  ball-room,  in 
muddy  boots,  the  effect  was  peculiar.  Every  place 
was,  however,  decorated  with  flowers  and  flags,  which 
are  no  doubt  excellent  substitutes  for  dusters  and 
dustpans. " 

I  shall  not  easily  forget  that  household.  It  is  hardly 
necessary  to  say  that  the  Governor,  M.  Laffon,  was  a 
bachelor,  a  yoimg  man,  clever  and  charming  but  evi- 
dently unaccustomed  to  domestic  details.  I  believe 
that  he  was  appointed  through  the  influence  of  the 
Paris  Rothschild,  who  was  a  friend  of  his  father,  and 
who  had  a  predominating  share  in  the  nickel  mines 
which  constitute  the  great  wealth  of  New  Caledonia. 
He,  however,  was  a  civilian  and  had  no  voice  in  the 
appointment  of  the  Private  Secretary  and  Military 
A.D.C.  who  constituted  his  staflt,  and  who  treated  their 
Chief  with  a  profound  disregard  which  scandalised  our 
Private  Secretary,  George  Goschen. 

M.  Laffon  got  up  at  any  hour  in  the  morning  to  take 
us  to  "  objects  of  interest ''  before  the  heat  of  the  day, 
but  the  staff  did  not  trouble  themselves  to  appear  till 
about  noon,  and  when  a  ceremonious  dejemier  was 
given  we  found  that  the  Minister  of  the  Interior  was 
running  round  to  put  the  name-cards  on  the  places  of 
the  guests.  These  young  men  told  Mr.  Goschen  that 
when  they  did  not  want  to  go  anywhere  they  pleaded 
headache  and  wondered  if  their  Governor  were  surprised 
at  the  frequency  of  these  ailments.  "  But  don't  you 
have  a  headache  \  "  added  one  of  them.  "  An  A.D.C," 
retorted  our  virtuous  Briton,  "  never  has  a  headache." 
"  But  you  have  sentiments  ?  "  "  An  A.D.C.,"  was  the 
reply,  "  has  no  feelings."  "  You  nmst  feel  unwell 
sometimes  ?  "  "  Never  iuore  than  one  out  of  four  of 
us  at  a  time." 


280  NEW    CALEDONIA  [ch.  xii 

Poor  George  Goschen  was  nearly  crippled  with 
rheumatism  while  at  Noumea,  but  would  rather  have 
died  on  the  spot  than  have  omitted  to  set  a  good  example 
by  following  us  everywhere  in  a  pelting  rain.  Never- 
theless when  they  deigned  to  accompany  us  the  two 
Frenchmen  made  themselves  very  agreeable. 

Our  English  footman,  originally  a  boy  from  Middleton 
village,  was  considerably  taken  aback  when  he  found 
that  the  only  attendance  in  our  rooms  was  the  sudden 
inroad  of  a  party  of  kanakas  (natives)  who  ran  in  with 
feather  brushes,  stirred  up  a  little  dust,  and  rapidly 
disappeared.  **  Well,  Henry,"  said  Mr.  Goschen, 
"  either  you  or  I  will  have  to  make  His  Excellency's 
bed."  And,  stimulated  by  this  and  by  my  maid's 
example,  Henry  turned  to.,  and  we  were  made  perfectly 
comfortable. 

Fortunately  for  the  peace  of  mind  of  our  kind  hosts, 
the  Government  and  Municipality,  we  came  in  for  the 
Fetes  de  Juillet,  so  though  they  could  not  carry  out 
the  special  entertainments  projected  for  us,  they  had 
three  balls,  and  some  races,  already  arranged.  It  was 
rather  strange  to  have  the  music  supplied  by  a  Convict 
Band  in  their  penal  garb,  but  it  was  very  good. 

In  the  middle  of  one  of  the  balls  we  were  summoned 
to  witness  a  "  pilou-pilou,"  that  is  a  native  dance  by  the 
kanakas — merry-looking  people  with  tremendous  heads 
of  wool  standing  straight  up.  They  danced  a  kind  of 
ballet  with  much  swaying  of  their  bodies  and  swinging 
of  their  weapons,  which  they  afterwards  presented  to 
me.  I  did  not  much  like  taking  them,  but  was  assured 
that  it  was  the  custom. 

These  kanakas  were  darker  and  of  a  more  negro  type 
than  the  Samoans  whom  we  afterwards  visited,  but 
not  so   dark   as    the   Australian    aboriginals,    nor   so 


THE    CONVICT    SETTLEMENT  281 

savage  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  New  Hebrides  or  New 
Ireland. 

We  saw  two  of  their  villages,  and  their  system  of 
irrigation  by  little  watercourses  on  the  hill-side,  which 
showed  considerable  capacity  for  agriculture.  The 
Roman  Catholic  missionaries  claimed  to  have  con- 
verted about  ten  thousand  of  them,  and  it  was  curious 
to  find  in  a  dark  little  hut  of  bark  and  reeds,  with  little 
inside  except  mats  and  smoke,  two  or  three  Mass  books 
and  a  crucifix.  Some  of  the  priests  whom  we  met  had 
gone  into  the  wilds  of  New  Caledonia  before  the  French 
annexed  it  in  1853,  and  regardless  of  danger  had  worked 
there  ever  since. 

We  were  taken  to  see  the  chief  buildings  of  the 
Convict  Settlement,  which  appeared  to  be  large  and 
well  planned,  but  one  liad  rather  a  painful  shock  when 
the  first  object  pointed  out  was  the  site  of  the  guillotine. 
Naturally  the  convicts  were  divided  into  different 
classes.  We  entered  one  long  building  where  a  number 
were  confined  in  common,  and  seemed  fairly  cheerful, 
l)ut  others  were  in  little  separate  cells  from  which  they 
were  only  brought  out,  and  then  alone,  for  a  very 
short  time  each  day.  Some  had  only  a  brief  period  of 
such  solitary  confinement,  but  in  one  small  cell  we  found 
a  very  big  man  who  almost  seemed  to  fill  it  with  his 
body  when  he  stood  up  at  our  entrance.  He  had  been 
condemned  to  seven  years  of  this  penance  for  having 
assaulted  a  waiter.  He  implored  the  Covernor  either 
to  have  him  executed  at  once,  or  to  allow  him  a  little 
more  liberty.  1  backed  up  his  plea,  and  M.  Laffon 
promised  some  consideration,  which  1  trust  was  effectual. 

The  worst  thing  we  saw  was  the  lunatics'  prison, 
inhabited  bv  men  who  had  gone  mad  since  their  arrival 
in  the  Island.     One  man  had  a  most  refined  and  int^l- 


282  NEW    CALEDONIA  [ch.  xii 

lectual  head ;  he  had  been  a  distinguished  lawyer  at 
Lyons  and  was  transported  for  having  killed  a  man 
who,  if  I  recollect  rightly,  had  been  his  sister's  lover. 
No  wonder  that  shame,  exile.,  and  his  surroundings  had 
driven  him  mad.  Another  was  much  happier ;  he  was 
quite  harmless,  and  was  allowed  to  wander  about  and 
indulge  his  mania,  which  was  the  decoration  of  the 
little  chapel.  I  have  no  reason  at  all  to  think  that  the 
convicts  were  ill-treated,  but  we  did  not  see  the  place 
where  the  worst  criminals  were  confined,  and  one  of 
the  French  ladies  mysteriously  remarked,  "  lis  ont  des 
temps  durs  ceux-la.'" 

I  always  feel,  however,  that  philanthropists  who  are 
ready  to  condemn  the  treatment  of  convicts  in  any  part 
of  the  world  fail  to  realise  the  difficulty  of  keeping 
order  amongst  large  bodies  of  men,  most  of  whom,  at  all 
events,  have  criminal  instincts.  The  heroes  of  novels 
and  plays  who  undergo  such  imprisonment  are  almost 
invariably  represented  as  unjustly  convicted,  probably 
scapegoats  for  real  criminals,  and  all  our  sympathy  is 
evoked  on  their  behalf.  No  doubt,  particularly  in  the 
early  days  of  Australia,  there  were  many  cruelties  and 
much  undue  severity,  but  the  comparatively  few 
officers  and  men  w^ho  were  put  to  guard  and  govern 
masses  of  criminals  had  no  easy  task.  They  were  far 
removed  from  any  possibility  of  summoning  help  in 
cases  of  mutiny,  and  probably  many  of  them  deteri- 
orated mentally  and  physically  through  much  anxiety 
and  the  hardships  which  they  themselves  had  to  en- 
counter. 

On  the  other  hand,  I  heard  many  authentic  stories  in 
Australia  of  the  kind  treatment  and  good  behaviour  of 
the  convicts  who  were  sent  out  from  England  for  slight 
offences,    and    who    became    steady    and    law-abiding 


COX^^ICTS    IN    FORxMER    DAYS  283 

settlers,  and  were  particularly  careful  in  the  education 
and  upbringing  of  their  children.     One  gentleman  told 
me  of  a  dentist  who  refused  a  fee  for  treating  him 
because  his  father,  who  had  been  an  official  in  convict 
days,  had  been  so  good  to  the  dentist "s  ticket-of-leave 
family.     Of  course  it  seems  very  hard  of  our  ancestors 
to  have  transported  men  and  women  for  stealing  bread 
or  poaching,  and  I  am  not  justifying  the  penal  laws  of 
the  eighteenth   century,  but  being  what   they  were  I 
am  not  at  all  sure  that  the  majority  of  those  who  were 
sent  to  Australia  were  not  better  ofT  than  they  would 
have  been  shut  up  in  the  prisons  of  those  days  in  England, 
and  certainly  their  children  had  a  much  better  start  in 
life.     I  believe  that  the  great  hardship  was  the  voyage 
out  in  a  slow  sailing  ship^  overcrowded,  with  little  fresh 
air  and  the  constant  risk  of  food  and  water  rumiing 
short.     Once    landed,    there    were    many    chances    of 
prosperity  for  the  well-behaved.     I  say  nothing  of  the 
real  black  sheep  who  were  relegated  to  Port  Arthur  or 
Norfolk  Island.     It  is  a  mercy  to  think  that  those  days 
are  past  and  over. 

To  return  to  New  Caledonia.  There  were  elaborate 
arrangements  for  work  in  the  nickel  mines,  and  as 
assigned  servants  to  free  settlers  whom  the  French 
Government  were  very  anxious  to  plant  on  the  land. 
I  do  not  think  that  they  were  very  successful  in  inducing 
large  numbers  to  undertake  the  long  voyage,  though 
there  were  a  few  Bretons  on  our  ship.  A  good  many 
Australians,  however,  were  established  in  trade  in 
Noumea. 

Words  fail  to  do  justice  to  the  kindness  of  the  New 
Caledonian  French  -they  made  every  exertion  to 
render  us  happy,  and  completely  succeeded.  When  we 
left  they  robbed  their  Museum  of  a  whole  collection  of 


284  NEW   CALEDONIA  [ch.  xn 

native  curiosities  which  they  put  on  board  ship  with  us, 
despite  our  protestations.  One  quaint  incident  perhaps 
deserves  record.  Just  as  we  departed  I  received  an 
imposing-looking  missive  written  in  flowery  English, 
which  proved  to  be  a  letter  from  a  French  poilu.  He 
informed  me  that  he  had  been  in  Australia  and  had 
there  married  a  girl  whose  name  he  gave  me.  She 
was  then  living  in  Victoria,  and  if  I  remember  rightly 
was  half  Belgian,  half  British.  A  small  child  had  been 
the  offspring  of  the  union,  but  "  France  had  called 
on  him  to  serve,''  and  though  his  time  of  service  over- 
seas was  nearly  up,  and  though  he  wished  to  return  to 
Australia  to  "  stand  by  his  wife,''  France  saw  otherwise 
and  proposed  to  ship  him  back  to  Marseilles  ;  he  was 
in  despair  until  I  had  appeared  "  like  a  star  of  hope 
upon  the  horizon." 

When  we  were  back  at  Sydney  I  wrote  to  the  Charity 
Organization  at  Melbourne  asking  if  they  could  find  out 
anything  about  the  lady.  Oddly  enough  she  was 
actually  employed  in  the  C.O.S.  Office,  and  was  said 
to  be  quite  respectable,  though  there  appeared  to 
have  been  a  little;  informality  about  the  "  marriage 
lines." 

I  then  wrote  to  the  very  amiable  French  Colonel  at 
Noumea  and  asked  whether  under  the  circumstances 
he  could  see  his  way  to  letting  the  lovelorn  swain  return 
to  Australia  instead  of  to  France.  With  prompt 
courtesy  he  granted  my  request,  and  named  some 
approximate  date  for  the  man's  arrival  in  Melbourne, 
Thereupon  I  wrote  a  further  letter  to  the  C.O.S., 
asking  that  they  would  be  prepared  for  a  marriage 
ceremony  about  which  there  should,  this  time,  be  no 
mistake.  The  end  of  the  romance,  at  all  events  of 
this  chapter,  was  that  I  received  a  gushing  epistle  of 


DEATH  OF  LORD  ANCRAM       285 

gratitude  signed  by  "  two  young  hearts/'  or  words  to 
that  effect,  ''  made  for  ever  happy."  I  never  saw  the 
youth  and  maiden  whom  I  had  thus  been  instrumental 
in  launching  among  the  eddies  and  currents  of  matri- 
mony, but  I  trust  that  the  little  girl  was  sufficient  to 
justify  a  somewhat  blind  experiment. 

A  great  tragedy  threw  a  shadow  over  our  sojourn  in 
N.S.W. 

One  of  our  aides-de-camp  was  Lord  Ancram,  elder 
son  of  Lord  Lothian,  and  a  particularly  attractive 
young  man.  He  was  a  great  favourite  in  Sydney  and 
much  in  request  at  gatherings  of  every  description, 
being  good-looking  and  having  charming  manners.  In 
June  1892  he  and  my  brother  were  invited  to  join  a 
shooting  party  in  the  country.  He  went  ofi  in  high 
spirits,  and  when  he  came  to  say  good-bye  to  me, 
knowing  him  to  be  rather  delicate,  I  cautioned  him 
to  be  sure  and  put  some  kind  of  bedding  under  as  well 
as  over  him  if  sleeping  out  at  night.  This  he  promised 
to  do.  I  never  saw  him  again.  It  was  customary  in 
Australia  to  shoot  riding.  He  and  his  companions  got  off 
their  horses  for  luncheon,  and  put  their  guns  on  the 
ground.  On  remounting  one  of  the  party  seems  to 
have  picked  up  a  loaded  gun  in  mistake  for  his  own 
wliich  he  had  discharged.  Handled  incautiously  this 
gun  went  off,  and  poor  Ancram  was  shot  through  the 
head,  dying  instantaneously.  I  shall  never  forget  the 
miiversal  sorrow  not  only  in  Government  House,  but 
among  the  whole  warm-hearted  community  of  New 
South  Wales.  It  was  some  comfort  that  the  Admiral 
commanding  the  Station,  Lord  Charles  Scott,  was 
Ancram's  uncle,  and  he  and  his  nice  wife  were  able 
to  help,  and  advise  as  to  the  best  means  of  breaking 
the  news  to  the  poor  parents  and  relatives  in  England. 


286  NEW   CALEDONIA  [ch.  xii 

Poor  George  Goschen,  who  was  devoted  to  Ancram, 
was  almost  prostrated  by  grief.  It  was  rather  curious 
that  not  very  long  before  the  accident  Ancram  told  me 
that  he  had  dreamt  that  he  found  himself  back  in  his 
old  home,  but  that  his  brother  had  taken  his  place  and 
that  nobody  recognised  him  or  took  any  notice  of  him  ! 

Treasures  of  the  Old  World  are  sometimes  found  at 
the  Antipodes.  On  one  of  our  tours,  at  a  township  called 
Bungendore,  a  large  wooden  box  appeared  unexpectedly 
in  our  private  railway  car.  Opened,  it  was  found  to 
contain  a  letter  from  a  Mr.  Harold  Mapletoft  Davis 
explaining  that  he  confided  to  our  care  relics  from  Little 
Gidding,  brought  from  England  long  before  by  his 
parents.  His  mother,  Miss  Mapletoft,  was  directly 
descended  from  Dr.  Mapletoft  and  from  his  wife,  the 
only  Miss  Colet  who  married.  In  the  box  were  a  copy 
of  the  famous  Harmonies,  and  bound  volumes  of  manu- 
script writings  by  Mary  Colet  and  her  sisters.  The 
fine  binding  of  The  Harmonies,  now  in  the  British 
Museum,  was  said  to  have  been  executed  by  Mary  Colet 
herself  ;  she  did  not  die  young  as  represented  in  "  John 
Inglesant,"  but  lived  to  a  good  old  age.  There  was  also 
a  lovely  Charles  I  embroidered  miniature  chest  of  drawers, 
containing  a  boar's  tooth,  a  handkerchief  with  the  royal 
monogram,  and  other  relics.  Charles  I  left  this  at 
Little  Gidding  during  his  troubles.  It  was  ultimately 
purchased  by  Queen  Victoria,  and  is  now  at  Windsor. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

TONGA   AND    SAMOA 

Not  long  after  our  return  from  New  Caledonia  I  set 
sail  again,  this  time  to  take  advantage  of  an  invitation 
from  the  Britannic  Land  Commissioner  to  stay  with 
him  at  his  house  in  Samoa.  My  brother  Rupert  Leigh 
and  my  daughter  ]\Iargaret  accompanied  me  on  the 
Norddeutscher  Lloyd  mail-ship  Lubcck.  The  Germans 
subsidised  the  line,  but  it  was,  I  understood,  run  at  a 
regular  loss.  We  left  on  August  3rd,  and  encountered 
very  rough  weather,  seas  sweeping  over  the  bridge, 
and  even  invading  our  cabins.  Captain  Mentz  was 
very  kind,  installed  us  in  his  own  quarters,  and  did  his 
best  to  find  food  which  Margaret  and  I  could  eat  despite 
sea-sickness.  I  must  say  this  for  him,  although  he  was 
a  German  ! 

We  passed  Norfolk  Island,  but  did  not  land  anywhere 
until  we  reached  Nekualofa,  the  chief  town  of  the 
Tongan  group,  which  consists  of  about  100  islands  and 
atolls.  Tonga,  like  every  island  in  the  Pacific  of  which  I 
ever  heard,  has  its  own  particular  quarrels  and  politics. 
It  was  governed  at  the  time  of  our  visit  by  an  ancient 
potentatecalled  King  Gcorge,after  George  HI  of  England. 
His  wife  had  been  Queen  Charlotte,  but  she  had  died. 

The  hero,  or  rather  villain,  of  recent  Tongan  history 
was  one  Sliirlcy  Baker,  a  VVesleyan  missionary  with 
the  aspirations  of  a  liichelicu  or  Mazarin.  lie  belonged 
to  the  Wesleyan  C/hurch   of  Australia,  which  had  prc- 

287 


288  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

viously  become  independent  of  the  Mother  Church  in 
England.  Shirley  Baker,  however,  having  made  him- 
self Prime  Minister  of  Tonga,  did  not  care  to  take  orders 
even  from  Australia,  but  persuaded  the  dusky  monarch 
that  the  right  and  proper  thing  was  to  have  a  Free 
Methodist  Church  of  his  own.  This  would  not  have 
mattered,  but  the  inhabitants  were  all  compelled  to 
belong  to  this  new  connexion,  and  beaten  and  imprisoned 
if  they  wished  to  adhere  to  what  was  presumably  the 
Church  of  their  baptism.  Other  trifling  accusations, 
such  as  of  poisoning,  were  brought  against  this  eccle- 
siastical Prime  Minister,  and  ultimately  the  British 
High  Commissioner  from  Fiji  had  to  come  down  and 
deport  him  to  New  Zealand.  Still,  however,  as  far 
as  we  could  learn  during  a  brief  stay  of  some  twenty- 
four  hours,  though  there  was  surface  peace,  intrigue  and 
suspicion  were  still  rampant. 

Even  before  we  landed  my  brother  came  to  me  and 
said  that  one  of  our  fellow-passengers  had  warned  him 
that  if  we  paid  a  visit  to  King  George  the  missionary 
interpreter  in  attendance  would  probably  misrepresent 
what  we  had  to  say  to  the  monarch.  "  But,"  added 
Eupert,  "  I  don't  think  that  we  have  anything  par- 
ticular to  say,  have  we  ?  "  I  agreed  that  I  did  not 
think  that  our  communications  would  vitally  affect  the 
peace  of  the  world,  or  even  of  the  Pacific,  so  we  ventured 
to  enter  the  royal  precincts. 

The  Palace  was  a  comfortable-looking  villa,  of 
which  the  most  striking  adornment  was  a  full-length 
oil-painting  of  the  old  German  Emperor  William, 
presented  to  the  King  for  having  declared  the  neutrality 
of  Tonga  in  the  Franco-German  War  of  1870.  The 
High  Commissioner  of  Fiji  had  countered  this  pro- 
paganda by  presenting  an  engraving  of  Queen  Victoria, 


TONGAN    LADIES  2sy 

but  we  were  bound  to  confess,  that,  being  merely  head 
and  shoulders,  our  Sovereign  Lady  was  placed  at  a 
disadvantage  in  the  artistic  competition. 

The  Tongan  ladies  were  celebrated  for  their  beauty, 
and  we  were  told  tliat  when  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  as 
Prince  Alfred,  visited  Australia  and  some  places  in  the 
Pacific,  Tonga  was  much  disappointed  because  he  failed 
to  land  on  its  shores.  The  inhabitants,  however, 
found  balm  for  their  wounded  feelings  in  two  explana- 
tions offered  :  first.  Queen  Victoria  was  so  impressed  by 
the  importance  of  the  group  that  had  she  sent  a  re- 
presentative it  must  have  been  her  eldest,  not  her 
second  son  ;  secondly,  she  had  heard  so  much  of  the 
charms  of  the  ladies  that  she  feared  lest  the  Prince 
should  bring  back  a  dusky  daughter-in-law  if  exposed 
to  their  wiles.  One  only  wonders  why  they  thought 
that  she  should  object.  The  King  was  a  fine  old  man, 
and  we  had  no  reason  to  believe  that  a  rather  weak- 
looking  missionary  gave  any  serious  misconstruction 
of  our  conventional  remarks.  They  dealt  a  good  deal 
with  our  Queen,  and  at  all  events  he  introduced  her 
name  at  the  right  place  ! 

We  had  a  very  pretty  drive  in  a  vividly  green  lane,  had 
tea  at  the  hotel,  and  returned  to  sleep  on  board.  The 
real  joy,  however,  was  our  departure  at  sunrise  next 
morning.  Never  before  or  since  have  1  seen  such  a 
glory  of  colour — St  John  may  have  witnessed  something 
like  it  when  he  wrote  the  Revelation,  but  1  cannot 
believe  tliat  earth  contains  a  rival. 

The  sun  struck  the  coral  reefs  through  an  absolutely 
calm  sea,  and  its  beams  were  broken  up  into  streams 
and  rivers  of  crimson,  blue,  green,  and  purple,  as  if 
a  rainbow  or  the  tail  of  an  angelic  peacock  or  bird  of 
paradise  had  fallen  into  the  ocean  ;  nor  did  the  rivers 


290  TONGA    AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

remain  unchanged.  At  one  moment  a  flood  of  crimson 
passed  by,  and  if  we  ran  to  the  other  side  of  the  ship, 
we  found  that  the  waters  were  turning  to  emerald ; 
they  parted  and  mingled  and  parted  again  till  we  seemed 
in  a  fairy  world  of  magic. 

We  spent  much  time  in  the  lagoons  of  Samoa  and  saw 
beautiful  hues,  particularly  deep  purples,  there,  but 
never  again  the  extraordinary  beauty  of  the  Tongan 
archipelago.  Behind  the  ever- changing  sea  rose  a 
myriad  islands  crowned  with  palms  and  floating  in 
light.  My  brother  asked  me  if  I  remembered  the  little 
picture  in  our  old  Ballantyne's  Coral  Island  of  school- 
room days.  I  had  already  thought  of  it,  and  gratefully 
felt  that  at  least  one  dream  of  childhood  had  been  ful- 
filled, that  I  had  seen  something  of  what  our  books  had 
told,  though  not  as  the  sailor  which  I  had  sighed  to  be. 

King  George  died  in  the  spring  after  we  had  made 
his  acquaintance.  A  prominent  resident  whom  we  had 
met  at  Nukualofa,  Mr.  Parker,  wrote  to  describe  the 
honours  paid  to  his  memory.  He  said  that  he  had 
been  for  so  many  years  "  a  leading  character  for  good 
and  bad  that  his  sudden,  but  on  account  of  his  age 
not  unexpected,  death  caused  much  commotion." 

"  However  much  some  of  his  subjects  may  have 
disliked  him  (or  rather  his  regime)  when  alive,  and 
with  much  reason  there  were  many,  now  that  he  is 
dead  the  respect  they  show  is  very  striking.  The 
place  both  day  and  night  is  as  silent  as  death,  though 
there  is  plenty  of  movement."  On  a  low  white  wall 
surrounding  the  premises,  "  at  intervals  of  about  one 
foot  there  is  a  lamp  placed  on  the  top ;  and  at  every 
few  yards  of  the  road  a  camp  of  people  squat  down  with 
torches,  and  patiently  wait  for  daylight  as  a  sign  of 
respect,  and  also  in  all  probability  to  keep  evil  spirits 
away,  though  if  asked  the  watchers  would  not  say  so." 


ARRIVAL    AT    APIA  291 

The  house  itself  was  brilliantly  illuminated  with 
hundreds  of  coloured  lamps  and  paper  hint  horns,  and 
within,  mats,  flowers,  and  sandal- wood  powder  were 
lavished  on  the  dead  monarch.  Meantime  1  must 
return  to  our  voyage. 

We  landed  at  Apia,  the  capital  of  Samoa,  on  August 
13th,  by  Sydney  calendar.  (Samoan  was  different,  as 
we  had  crossed  180°  longitude,  but  this  is  unimportant.) 
We  were  met  by  our  kindest  of  hosts,  Mr.  Bazett 
Michael  Haggard,  with  the  boat  of  the  British  Com- 
mission rowed  by  a  fine  crew  of  natives  in  white  shirts 
and  red  lava-lavas  or  kilts.  These,  like  other  Samoan 
men,  were  tattooed  from  the  waist  to  the  knee  rather 
as  if  they  wore  tight  V)reeches  under  their  kilts.  We 
were  takeji  to  Haggard's  quarters,  a  two-storied  house 
called  Ruge's  Buildings,  embowered  in  trees,  containing 
a  fine  long  reception  room  upstairs,  with  bedrooms  off 
it  for  my  daughter,  myself,  and  my  maid.  Below  were 
the  servants'  quarters,  the  staf[  being  a  very  intelligent 
Indian  and  two  Samoan  boys ;  behind  was  a  courtyard 
with  rooms  beyond  for  Mr.  Haggard  and  my  brother. 
The  whole  had  been  the  property  of  a  commercial 
company.  Mr.  Haggard  in  his  anxiety  for  our  safety 
used  to  lock  us  women  in  at  night,  but  I  do  not  know 
what  danger  he  apprehended. 

Ruge's  Buildings  were  situated  on  the  principal  road 
of  Apia,  not  far  from  the  harbour  which  was  the  scene 
of  the  famous  hurricane  in  which  the  English  ship 
Callio'pe  outrode  the  storm  and  escaped,  while  the 
German  Adler  was  wrecked  against  the  reefs.  Her 
mast  still  rose  above  her  shattered  remains,  marking 
the  .spot  where  .she  lay. 

The  Samoan  group  consisted  of  three  principal  and 
Bcveral  outlying  islands.     Tutuila,  which  posseases  tho 


292  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [oh.  xiii 

best  harbour,  was  held  by  the  Americans,  while  Upolu, 
site  of  the  capital,  and  Savaii,  a  mountainous  isle, 
were  more  or  less  in  dispute  between  the  Germans  and 
the  British.  The  politics  of  the  whole  group  were 
involved  to  a  degree,  and  certainly  hold  little  interest  for 
anyone  at  this  time  of  day.  The  League  of  Nations 
did  not  exist  in  1892,  but  Samoa  would  have  afforded  a 
splendid  field  for  its  discussions,  not  to  say  a  happy 
hunting-ground  for  commissions  and  expenditure. 

The  main  points  of  difference  in  1892  may  be  summar- 
ised thus  :  There  were  two  kings,  Malietoa  Laupepa, 
acknowledged  by  the  European  Powers,  and  a  rebel, 
Mataafa,  fortified  in  the  mountains.  There  was  another 
monarch,  Tamasese,  but  he  was  not  then  counted 
among  the  royal  claimants,  though  son  of  a  chief  called 
the  "  German  King,"  because  his  father  had  once  upon 
a  time  been  acknowledged  by  the  Germans,  who  gave 
him  a  uniform. 

Also  there  were  three  Land  Commissioners  and  three 
Consuls,  English,  American,  and  German ;  a  German 
Prime  Minister ;  Mabon,  Secretary  of  State — I  think 
American — and  a  Swedish  Chief  Justice.  The  last- 
named  was  appointed  to  settle  any  matters  of  dif- 
ference which  might  arise  between  the  Land  Com- 
missioners of  the  three  Great  Powers,  and  they  were 
to  decide  the  disputes  between  the  various  claimants 
to  land. 

The  Europeans  had  often  tried  to  induce  the  natives 
to  sell  them  land  far  below  its  value,  and  the  natives 
were  not  altogether  behindhand  in  the  game,  as  they 
would  sell  the  same  land  to  two  or  three  different  pur- 
chasers. Result,  far  more  claims  to  land  than  acres 
existing  to  satisfy  the  claimants.  The  Swedish  Chief 
Justice,  a  man  called  Cedercrantz,  with  a  squint,  did 


GERMAN    PLANTATIONS  293 

not  know  English  when  appointed,  and  had  to  go  to 
Fiji  to  learn  it. 

To  add  to  the  complications  there  were  three  sets  of 
missionaries  in  Upolu,  London  missionaries  and  Wesley- 
ans,  with  a  standing  feud  between  them,  and  Roman 
Catholics  of  course  violently  opposed  to  both.  All  this 
for  a  population  well  under  a  hundred  thousand ! 
However,  despite  all  these  quarrels,  and  the  consequent 
excitements,  the  natives  seemed  a  singularly  contented 
and  easy-going  community,  and  everyone  whom  we 
met  vied  with  all  others  in  making  us  happy. 

The  Samoans  are  fairer  than  the  New  Caledonians 
and  their  hair  less  woolly ;  they  approached  nearer  to 
the  Malay  type.  We  found  they  did  not  in  the  least 
want  to  work  in  the  cocoa-nut  plantations  set  on  foot 
by  the  Germans,  and  why  should  they.  Fishing  one 
day  a  week  and  cultivating  a  few  yams  and  taros  on 
another  day  would  supply  their  food,  and  the  women 
made  tappa  for  their  few  garments  out  of  the  bark  of 
trees. 

The  Germans  imported  workmen  of  the  dusky  negro 
type  from  the  New  Hebrides  and  New  Ireland,  but  the 
English  settlers  were  not  allowed  to  do  this,  and  the 
consequence  in  our  time  was  that  the  Germans 
owned  the  plantations,  but  otherwise  trade  and 
population  accrued  largely  to  New  Zealanders  and 
other  British  subjects. 

Our  host,  Bazett  Haggard,  brother  to  Rider  Haggard 
and  to  William  Haggard  whom  we  had  known  in  Athens, 
was  a  great  character.  When  he  visited  Sydney  he 
was  known  as  "  Samoa,"  for  he  never  talked  of  any- 
thing else,  which  was  perhaps  not  surprising  under  the 
circumstances. 

A   lawyer   by   profession,   on   appointment  as   l^and 
20 


294  TONGA    AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

Commissioner  he  had  been  endowed  with  a  Foreign 
Office  uniform  and  a  Red  Box  which  were  sources  of 
infinite  gratification  and  innocent  pride.  An  Australian 
young  lady  asked  in  awed  tones,  "  Have  you  seen  the 
beautiful  box  which  Lord  Salisbury  gave  Mr.  Haggard  ?  " 
Previous  to  a  ball  at  Government  House  he  asked  with 
all  the  solemnity  appropriate  to  a  budding  diplomat 
whether  I  would  dance  with  him  as  first  representative 
of  the  Foreign  Office  at  Sydney.  After  the  dance  he 
laid  aside  his  sword  for  the  rest  of  the  evening,  assuring 
me  that  this  was  the  proper  etiquette,  to  dance  the 
State  dance  wearing  the  sword  and  subsequent  ones 
without  it.     No  doubt  he  was  right. 

Apart  from  Samoa  the  universe  for  him  revolved 
round  his  native  county,  Norfolk,  whence  sprang  all 
that  was  finest  in  the  British  race,  particularly  the 
Haggard  brothers.  I  forget  how  many  there  were,  but 
they  had,  he  said,  all  loud  voices,  and  on  some  occasion 
won  a  contested  election  by  the  simple  process  of 
shouting. 

Apart  from  this  quaint  strain  of  simple  satisfaction 
with  himself  and  his  surroundings  he  was  the  kindest  of 
men,  and  1  was  assured  that  when  it  came  to  his  legal 
work  all  his  oddities  were  cast  aside  and  that  he  was 
an  excellent  and  capable  Commissioner. 

On  the  evening  following  our  arrival  he  invited 
Robert  Louis  Stevenson  and  Mrs.  Stevenson  to  dinner, 
and  if  we  had  already  felt  the  fascination  of  Utopia 
we  then  fell  under  the  spell  of  the  Enchanter  who 
evoked  all  the  magic  woven  round  its  land  and  sea.  I 
shall  never  forget  the  moment  when  I  first  saw  him  and 
his  wife  standing  at  the  door  of  the  long,  wood-panelled 
room  in  Ruge's  Building.  A  slim,  dark-haired,  bright- 
eyed  figure  in  a  loose,  black  velvet  jacket  over  his 


R.    L     STEVENSON  295 

white  vest  and  trousers,  and  a  scarlet  silk  sash  round 
his  waist.  By  his  side  the  short,  dark  woman  with 
cropped,  curly  hair  and  the  strange  piercing  glance 
which  had  won  for  her  the  name  in  native  tongue, 
"  The  Witch  Woman  of  the  Mountain." 

Stevenson  was  never  one  to  keep  all  the  treasures  of 
his  imagination  and  humour  for  his  books.  Every 
word,  every  gesture  revealed  the  man,  and  he  gave 
one  the  impression  that  life  was  for  him  a  game  to  be 
shared  with  his  friends  and  played  nobly  to  the  end. 
I  think  that  Matthew  Arnold's  "  Empedocles  on  Etna  " 
expressed  him  when  he  sang  : 

"  Is  it  8o  small  a  thing 
To  have  onjoy'd  the  sun, 
To  have  lived  light  in  the  spring. 
To  have  loved,  to  have  thought,  to  have  done  ; 
To  have  advanced  true  friends,  and  beat  down  baffling  foes  ?  " 

But  Stevenson,  braver  to  confront  life  than  Empedocles, 
would  not  have  leapt  into  the  crater ! 

At  that  dinner,  which  inaugurated  our  friendship,  a 
very  merry  talk  somehow  turned  on  publishers  and 
publishing.  It  began,  if  I  remember  rightly,  with  a 
reference  to  Mrs.  Humphry  Ward's  latest  book,  for 
which  she  was  reported  to  have  received  a  number  of 
thousands  which  both  Stevenson  and  Haggard  pro- 
nounced to  be  incredible.  Haggard  speaking  from  his 
brother's  experience  and  Stevenson  from  his  own. 
Thereupon  it  was  suggested  by  someone,  and  carried 
unanimously,  that  we  should  form  an  "  Apia  Publishing 
Company  "  ;  and  later  on  in  ] laggard's  absence  the  rest 
oi  us  determined  to  write  a  story  of  which  our  host 
should  be  hero,  and  the  name,  suggested,  I  think,  by 
Stevenson,  was  t<j  be  An  Object  of  Pity,  or  the  Man 
lla(j(jard. 


296  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xm 

Before  this  was  completed  various  incidents  occurred 
which  were  incorporated  into  the  tale.  Another  friend 
of  Mr.  Haggard  was  the  British  Consul,  Mr.  Cusack 
Smith,  and  he  took  us  to  tea  with  him  and  his  pretty 
wife  on  the  Sunday  afternoon  following  our  arrival. 
They  lived  in  a  pleasant  bungalow  of  which  the  com- 
pound— or  lawn — was  enlivened  by  a  good-sized  turtle 
tied  to  a  post,  which  was  being  kept  ready  to  be 
slaughtered  and  cooked  when  we  came  to  dine  with 
them  ! 

The  question  of  fresh  meat  was  not  altogether  easy 
to  solve  in  Samoa.  We,  knowing  that  there  were 
certain  difficulties,  had  brought  with  us  a  provision  of 
tongues  and  similar  preserved  foods,  also  of  champagne, 
but  there  were  few  cows  and  oxen,  and  sheep  were 
impossible  to  rear  on  the  island — at  least  so  far  means 
had  not  been  found  to  feed  them  amongst  the  luxuriant 
tangle  of  tropical  vegetation.  Preserved  provisions, 
including  butter,  were  mostly  brought  from  New 
Zealand.  Samoa  itself  provided  skinny  chickens,  some 
kind  of  pigeon,  yams,  taros,  and  of  course  fish. 

The  occasional  great  treat '  was  pig  cooked  in  the 
native  oven,  an  excellent  kitchen  arrangement.  A 
hole  was  dug  in  the  ground,  the  object  to  be  cooked 
was  wrapped  up  in  leaves  and  placed  between  hot 
stones  ;  the  whole  was  then  covered  up  with  earth  and 
left  long  enough  for  the  meat  to  be  thoroughly  soft  and 
cooked  through ;  when  opened  nothing  could  be  more 
tender. 

Among  other  entertainments  we  were  invited  to 
dine  by  King  Malietoa,  to  whom  we  had  already  paid 
a  formal  visit  of  ceremony.  The  banquet,  which  took 
place  about  three  in  the  afternoon,  was  laid  on  a  long 
cloth  spread  on  the  ground  and  consisted  of  all  sorts 


KING    MALIETOA  297 

of  native  delicacies,  including  a  dish  of  a  peculiar  kind 
of  worm,  and,  besides  pig  and  pigeon,  of  vegetables 
cooked  in  various  ways.  The  staff  of  the  monarch 
included  an  orator  or  *'  Talking  Man,"  and  a  jester, 
thereby  recalling  the  attendants  of  the  Duke  of  Austria 
in  The  Talisman. 

The  Talking  ]\Ian,  whose  badge  of  office  was  a  fly- 
whisk,  carried  over  his  shoulder,  had  had  his  innings  at 
our  formal  reception,  but  the  jester  came  in  very  useful 
at  the  banquet.  We  were  told  that  one  ot  his  most 
successful  jokes  was  to  snatch  away  pieces  of  the  food 
placed  before  the  King,  On  this  occasion  he  was 
crouched  just  behind  Malietoa  and  myself.  Part  of  the 
regal  etiquette  was  for  the  monarch  to  give  me  a  piece 
of  any  delicacy  in  his  fingers,  but  he  always  tact- 
fully looked  the  other  way  when  he  had  done  so, 
thereby  giving  me  the  chance  of  slipping  it  into 
the  hands  of  the  jester,  who  consumed  it  chuckling 
with  glee. 

Malietoa  was  a  gentle,  amiable  being  who  seemed 
rather  oppressed  by  tlie  position  into  which  he  had 
been  thrust  by  the  Powers.  His  rival  Mataafa  was 
undoubtedly  the  stronger  character  of  the  two,  and 
appealed  to  the  romantic  instincts  of  Stevenson,  who 
was  his  personal  friend. 

Stevenson  and  Haggard  between  them  therefore 
concocted  a  plot  whereby  I  was  to  visit  incognita  the 
camp  in  the  mountains  of  the  rebel  potentate.  As  it 
would  not  do  to  keep  my  hwn  name,  my  husband  being 
then  Governor  of  New  South  Wales,  I  was  to  become 
Stevenson's  cousin,  Amelia  Balfour,  and  he  wrote 
beforehand  to  ask  that  accommodation  should  be 
provided  for  me  with  the  ladies  of  this  royal  house,  as 
1  was  not  well  accustomed  to  Island  customs. 


298  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

This   is   how   Stevenson   later  on  described  the  en- 
counter in  the  very  fragmentary  "  Samoid  "  : 

"  Two  were  the  troops  that  encountered  ;  one  from  the  way  of  the  shore, 
And  the  house  where  at  night,  by  the  timid,  the  Judge  ^  may  be  heard 

to  roar. 
And  one  from  the  side  of  the  mountain.     Now  these  at  the  trysting 

spot 
Arrived  and  lay  in  the  shade.     Nor  let  their  names  be  forgot. 


So  these  in  the  shade  awaited  the  hour,  and  the  hour  went  by ; 
And  ever  they  watched  the  ford  of  the  stream  with  an  anxious  eye  ; 
And  care,  in  the  shade  of  the  grove,  consumed  them,  a  doubtful  crew, 
As  they  harboured  close  from  the  bands  of  the  men  of  Mulinuu 
But  the  heart  of  the  Teller  of  Tales  (Tusitala)  at  length  could  endure 

no  more, 
He  loosed  his  steed  from  the  thicket,  and  passed  to  the  nearer  shore. 
And  back  through  the  land  of  his  foes,  steering  his  steed,  and  stiU 
Scouting  for  enemies  hidden.     And  lo  !   under  Vaca  Hill 
At  the  crook  of  the  road  a  clatter  of  hoofs  and  a  glitter  of  white  ! 
And  there  came  the  band  from  the  seaward,  swift  as  a  pigeon's  flight. 
Two  were  but  there  to  return :    the  Judge  of  the  Titles  of  land  ; 
He  of  the  lion's  hair,  bearded,  boisterous,  bland ; 
And  the  maid  that  was  named  for  the  pearl,^  a  maid  of  another  isle. 
Light  as  a  daisy  rode,  and  gave  us  the  light  of  her  smile. 
But  two  to  pursue  the  adventure :    one  that  was  called  the  Queen 
Light  as  the  maid,  her  daughter,  rode  with  us  veiled  in  green. 
And  deep  in  the  cloud  of  the  veil,  like  a  deer's  in  a  woodland  place. 
The  fire  of  the  two  dark  eyes,  in  the  field  of  the  unflushed  face. 
And  one  her  brother  ^  that  bore  the  name  of  a  knight  of  old, 
Rode  at  her  heels  unmoved ;   and  the  glass  in  his  eye  was  cold. 
Bright  is  the  sun  in  the  brook ;    bright  are  the  winter  stars, 
Brighter  the  glass  in  the  eye  of  that  captain  of  hussars." 

The  adventurous  party  consisted  of  R.L.S.,  his 
stepson  Lloyd  Osbourne,  his  stepdaughter  Mrs.  Strong 
(nee  Osbourne),  and  a  young  native  chief  Henry  Simele, 
my  brother,  and  myself.     It  was  arranged  with  infinite, 

1  Haggard,  who  had  described  to  us  the  loud  voices  of  himself  and 
his  brothers. 

»  Margaret  Villiers.  '  Captain  Rupert  Leigh. 


\ 


THE    ENCHANTED    FOREST  299 

but  somewhat  futile,  secrecy  that  Mr.  Haggard,  my 
daughter  and  I,  with  Rupert  should  ride  out  in  the 
afternoon  and  find  the  Vailima  party  awaiting  us  at 
the  Gasi-gasi  Ford.  This  duly  came  ofF ;  we  were  rather 
late,  and  found  our  companions  crouching,  excited,  at 
the  appointed  spot  in  the  attitude  proper  for  con- 
spirators. 

Haggard  and  my  daughter  thereupon  returned  to 
Ruge's  Buildings,  and  the  rest  of  us  pursued  our  way 
through  the  enchanted  forest,  past  groves  of  bananas, 
and  up  the  mountain.  From  time  to  time  little  stiles 
barring  the  narrow  paths  had  to  be  negotiated  ;  some 
p]uropeans  explorers  had  imagined  that  these  were  a 
kind  of  fortification  to  protect  Mataafa's  quarters,  but 
really  they  were  nothing  more  romantic  than  fences 
to  keep  pigs  from  wandering. 

Nature  in  Samoa  everywhere  erected  natural  screens 
for  those  who  desired  concealment  in  the  extraordinary 
luxuriance  of  her  tangled  vegetation  :  overhead,  broad- 
leaved  forest  trees  interlacing  their  branches  so 'that  it 
was  possible  to  ride  even  at  midday  under  a  tropical 
sun ;  below,  the  long  and  varied  creeping  plants  which 
went  under  the  general  name  of  "  vines,"  and  which 
rendered  progress  difficult  except  where  narrow  tracks 
had  been  cleared  leading  from  one  little  village  to 
another.  Mostly,  however,  the  villagers  were  within 
easy  reach  of  the  seashore,  partly  for  convenience  of 
fishing,  partly  as  l)cing  accessible  in  boats.  The 
villagers  loved  to  visit  their*friends,  rowing  pleasantly 
from  place  to  place  within  the  lagoons  which  circled 
the  Island. 

To  return  to  our  journey.  Among  other  instances  of 
1  ropical  luxuriance,  we  passed  a  quantity  of  sensitive 
plant.     The  original  plani  had  brcii  placed  by  a  tiifiiibcr 


300  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

of  a  German  firm  on  his  child's  grave,  thence  it  had 
quickly  spread  and  had  become  a  perfect  pest  in  the 
surrounding  districts.  My  horse  was  an  extremely 
lanky  and  skinny  animal  which  Mr.  Haggard  had 
procured  for  my  use,  and  which  alternately  rejoiced  in 
the  names  of  "  Pedigree "  and  "  Starvation,"  the 
latter  seeming  more  appropriate.  R.L.S.  rode  a  fat 
little  pony.  Mrs.  Strong  subsequently  caricatured  our 
progress  by  representing  me  very  tall  with  an  extremely 
tight  waistband,  and  Stevenson  looking  upward  from 
his  diminutive  steed. 

Mrs.  Strong,  be  it  understood,  regarded  any  kind  of 
fitting  garment  as  a  foolish  superfluity.  On  this  occa- 
sion she  had  donned  corsets  for  the  convenience  of  a 
long  ride,  but  when,  in  the  twilight,  we  neared  our 
destination  she  slipped  them  off  and  gave  them  to 
an  attendant,  bidding  him  be  a  good  boy  and  carry 
them  for  her. 

As  we  approached  the  royal  abode  we  were  met  first 
by  a  man  beating  a  drum,  then  by  the  whole  popula- 
tion, and  heard  many  remarks  interchanged  in  low 
tones  ;  my  companions  told  me  that  they  referred  to 
the  "  Tamaiti  Sili  "  or  "  Great  Lady,"  showmg  how 
singularly  ineffectual  was  my  disguise.  If  any  proof 
of  this  were  needed  it  was  soon  supplied.  Mataafa, 
a  very  fine  old  man,  received  us  most  courteously, 
attended  specially  by  a  remarkable  old  gentleman 
called  Popo,  who  had  curiously  aquiline  features  quite 
unlike  the  ordinary  native.  Stevenson  thus  described 
him  : 

"  He  who  had  worshipped  feathers  and  shells  and  wood, 
As  a  pillar  alone  in  the  desert  that  points  where  a  city  stood, 
Survived  the  world  that  was  his,  playmates  and  gods  and  tongue— 
For  even  the  speech  of  his  race  had  altered  sii.ce  Popo  was  young. 


KING    MATAAFA  301 

And  ages  of  time  and  epochs  of  changing  manners  bowed. 
And  the  silent  hosts  of  the  dead  wondered  and  muttered  aloud 
With  him,  as  he  bent  and  marvelled,  a  man  of  the  time  of  the  Ark, 
And  saluted  the  ungloved  hand  of  the  Lady  of  Osterley  Park." 

We  were  first  presented  with  refreshing  cocoa-nuts, 
and  after  profuse  compliments,  conveyed  through  the 
interpreter,  dinner,  or  supper,  was  prepared  on  a  small 
wooden  table  in  the  background.  It  consisted  of 
pigeon,  chickens,  tares,  and  yams,  but  poor  Mataafa, 
who  had  previously  adjourned  for  evening  service, 
could  not  share  the  birds  because  it  was  a  fast 
dav.  He  was  a  Roman  Catholic — another  point  of 
difference  between  him  and  Malietoa,  who  was  a 
Protestant. 

After  the  evening  repast  came  the  kava  ceremony.  As 
is  well  known,  kava  is  a  drink  made  from  the  roots  of 
the  pepper-tree,  chewed  by  young  persons  (who  have 
first  carefully  washed  their  teeth),  and  then  soaked  in 
water.  To  me  it  always  tasted  rather  like  soapy  water, 
but  it  is  most  popular  with  the  natives,  who  will  sit 
at  festivities  drinking  large  quantities.  It  is  said  to 
have  no  effect  on  the  head,  but  to  numb  the  lower 
limbs  if  too  much  is  imbibed. 

At  special  ceremonies,  however,  it  is  somewhat  in  the 
nature  of  a  loving-cup,  only  each  guest  has  a  cocoa-nut 
shell  refilled  from  the  general  wooden-legged  bowl  for 
his  benefit.  The  kava  is  always  given  in  strict  order 
of  precedence,  and  the  interest  was  to  see  whether 
Mataafa  would  give  the  first  cup  to  Stevenson  as  a  man, 
and  head  of  the  family,  or  to  me,  a  mere  woman  and 
ostensibly  a  female  relative,  as  in  the  latter  case  it 
would  show  that  he  saw  through  my  cousinly  pre  ten - 
fijons.  It  was  rather  a  curious  scene  in  the  dimly 
light <•(]    native    house — chairs    for    the    King    and    his 


302  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

European  guests,  while  the  interpreter,  Henry  Simele, 
and  the  native  henchmen  squatted  near-by.  With  an 
indescribable  expression  of  suppressed  amusement 
Mataafa  handed  the  cup  to  me,  whereupon  Stevenson, 
with  a  delightful  twinkle  of  his  eye,  exclaimed,  "  Oh, 
Amelia,  you're  a  very  bad  conspirator  !  '" 

Stevenson  and  my  brother  were  then  taken  off  to 
another  house,  while  Mrs.  Strong  and  I  were  escorted 
to  the  couch  prepared  for  us — a  large  pile  of  soft  mats 
enclosed  in  a  mosquito  curtain,  with  two  pillows  side 
by  side  at  the  head. 

A  native  house  has  often  been  described.  It  is 
generally  a  roof  shaped  like  an  inverted  boat  of  wooden 
beams  supported  on  posts  and  thatched  with  palm- 
leaves.  Its  size  varies  greatly  according  to  the  position 
and  wealth  of  the  owner.  Mataafa's  was  a  large  one 
and  his  mats  were  beautiful.  There  was  only  one 
room,  and  in  a  general  way  no  one  would  have  demurred 
at  sleeping  all  together.  However,  in  this  case  a  large 
tappa  curtain  was  let  down  in  the  centre ;  the  King 
and  his  warriors  slept  on  one  side,  and  the  other  formed 
the  apartment  of  Mrs.  Strong  and  myself. 

Mrs.  Strong  was  a  most  entertaining  companion,  and 
told  me  stories  of  American  experience  before  we  both 
composed  ourselves  to  sleep.  She  was  much  amused 
by  my  one  preparation  for  evening  toilet,  which  was  a 
toothbrush  ;  but  I  had  to  go  outside  the  matting  curtains 
suspended  between  the  posts  to  use  it,  as  all  cooking 
and  washing  was  bound  to  take  place  where  nothing 
should  spoil  the  beautiful  mats  carpeting  the  house 
proper.  I  found  guards  outside  waiting  in  the  darkness, 
and  when  he  heard  of  my  excursion  Stevenson  declared 
that  my  teeth  would  become  historic.  It  is  not  to  be 
supposed    that   the   natives   neglect   cleanliness — they 


THE    KAVA   CEREMONY  303 

constantly  bathe  in  the  sea  and  in  streams,  but  all 
washing  takes  place  outside,  not  inside,  their  houses. 

Next  morning  we  adjourned  from  the  private  abode 
to  Mataafa's  large  new  Parliament  House,  where  all 
his  chiefs  were  assembled  for  public  or  King's  kava. 
They  sat  round  in  a  sort  of  circle,  each  representing  one 
of  the  royal  "  names  "  or  tribes. 

Without  going  into  the  intricacies  of  Samoan  gene- 
alogy it  may  be  explained  that  no  Prince  could  properly 
be  King  of  the  whole  group  unless  he  could  prove  his 
title  to  rule  over  all  the  "  names."  As  it  seemed  that 
neither  Malietoa  nor  Mataafa  could  do  this,  their  quarrel 
was  unlikely  ever  to  be  decided  except  by  force 
and  by  the  support  given  to  one  or  the  other  from 
outside.  Anyhow,  a  great  number  of  "  names  "  were 
represented  on  this  occasion  and  the  scene  w^as  very 
interesting. 

This  Parliament  House  was  said  to  be  the  largest 
native  building  in  Samoa,  and  was  certainly  fine  and 
well  constructed.  On  the  cross-beams  of  the  central 
"  roof- tree  "  were  three  painted  wooden  birds,  emblems 
of  the  King's  house,  as  his  father  had  been  called 
"  King  of  the  Birds." 

The  King  and  his  guests  again  sat  on  chairs,  the 
chiefs  squatted  on  the  ground.  This  time,  being  public, 
the  King,  with  true  courtesy.,  accepted  my  ostensible 
position,  and  gave  the  kava  first  to  R.L.S. ;  after  the 
rest  of  us  had  drunk,  it  was  carried  to  each  chief  in 
turn,  and  in  several  cases  curious  rites  accompanied 
their  acceptance  of  the  cup.  In  one  case  an  old  man 
liad  to  lie  down  and  be  massaged  for  an  imaginary 
ailment,  in  another  the  kava  was  poured  over  a  stone 
wliich  stood  for  one  of  tlie  "  names  ''  whose  human 
representative  was  lacking.     The  most  dramatic  inci- 


304  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

dent  was  when  a  fine-looking  chief,  who  was  a  sort  of 
War  Lord  in  Mataafa's  army,  five  times  refused  the 
cup  with  a  very  haughty  air  before  condescending  to 
drink,  which  he  then  had  to  do  five  times.  We  were 
told  that  this  was  in  memory  of  an  ancestor  who  had 
refused  water  when  no  supply  could  be  obtained  for  his 
king,  recalling  the  story  of  David  pouring  out  the 
water  obtained  at  the  risk  of  his  captains'  lives. 

When  all  was  over  some  of  the  chiefs  were  presented 
to  us,  particularly  the  War  Lord,  who  had  laid  by  his 
truculent  manners  and  was  very  smiling  and  amiable. 
He  had  had  two  drinks,  first  as  Head  of  the  Forces, 
later  on  as  Headman  of  his  Village — so  was  in  great 
form. 

Poor  Mataafa !  After  we  left  the  Islands  war  broke 
out  again,  his  forces  were  finally  defeated,  and  I  believe 
that  he  died  in  exile.  My  stolen  visit  to  him  will, 
however,  be  always  a  most  delightful  recollection. 

We  also  paid  our  respects  to  Tamasese,  son  of  the 
*'  German  King,''  previous  to  spending  a  night  with  the 
Wesleyan  Missionary  and  his  wife.  Tamasese  was  out 
when  we  arrived,  as  he  did  not  expect  us  so  early.  We 
had  started  in  the  Commissioner's  boat  at  4  a.m.,  and 
saw  the  sun  rise  over  the  locked  lagoon.  We  were, 
however,  most  courteously  received  by  his  handsome 
wife  Viti,  who  besides  her  tappa  lava-lava  wore  a  kind 
of  double  bib  or  sleeveless  jumper  falling  to  the  waist 
before  and  behind,  with  a  hole  in  the  middle  for  her 
head  to  go  through.  This  ingenious  garment  was  made 
of  cotton  pocket-handkerchiefs  not  yet  cut  apart  for 
sale  and  printed  with  portraits  of  prize-fighters. 

Tamasese,  when  he  entered  the  house,  proved  to  be  the 
finest  native  whom  we  had  yet  seen,  with  the  square 
head  and  broad  limbs  of  a  Roman  emperor.     In  addi- 


A    NATIVE    DANCE  805 

tion  to  the  lava-lava  both  men  and  women  loved  to 
decorate  themselves  and  their  gnests  with  garlands  of 
flowers  worn  either  on  their  heads  or  hung  round  their 
necks.  I  have  a  vivid  recollection  of  my  brother  seated 
on  a  box  in  Tamasese's  hospitable  house  with  a  wreath 
of  flowers  on  his  head,  surrounded  by  an  admiring 
crowd  of  young  women,  including  the  handsome  Viti,  a 
young  cousin  or  adopted  daughter,  and  the  Taupau  or 
Maid  of  the  Village,  a  girl  selected  for  her  beauty  and 
charm  to  represent  the  community  in  the  receptions 
and  merry-makings  which  are  a  prominent  feature  in 
Samoan  life. 

Later  in  the  day  we  were  present  at  a  native  dance,  if 
dance  it  can  be  called,  when  the  performers  sat  for  the 
most  part  on  the  ground,  and  the  action  took  place  by 
girls  swinging  their  arms  and  bodies  while  the  men 
contributed  the  nmsic.  The  girls  did  not  confine  them- 
selves to  rhythmic  movements,  but  also  gave  a  kind 
of  comic  dramatic  performance,  mimicking  amongst 
other  things  the  manners  and  customs  of  white  people 
with  much  laughter  and  enjoyment.  They  threw 
bunches  of  leaves  about  by  way  of  cricket  balls — got  up 
and  walked  in  peculiar  manners,  with  explanations 
which    were    translated    to    us    as    "  German    style,'' 

English  style,"  and  so  on  ;  and  when  they  sang  a  kind 
of  song  or  recitative,  concerning  a  college  for  native 
girls  about  to  be  established  by  the  missionaries,  they 
made  the  very  sensible  suggestion  that  one  or  two  of 
them  shouhl  go  and  try  what  the  life  was  like  before 
they  entered  in  any  number. 

Tamasese  paid  us  a  return  visit  at  Apia.  It  was 
curious  to  see  him  seated  on  a  ch;iir  having  luncheon 
with  us,  dressed  solely  in  a  white  lava-lava  and  a  large 
garland    of    leaves    and    flowers    or    borrios.     Ifo    also 


306  TONGA    AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

attended  an  evening  party  at  Ruge's  Buildings ;  on 
that  occasion  he  added  a  white  linen  coat  to  his  costume 
at  Haggard's  request,  simply  because  the  cocoa-nut  oil 
with  which  natives  anoint  their  bodies  might  have 
come  off  on  the  ladies'  dresses  in  a  crowd. 

The  truth  is  that  a  lava-lava  and  a  coating  of  oil  are 
much  the  most  healthy  and  practical  costume  in  a 
tropical  climate.  When  a  shower  of  rain  comes  on  it 
does  so  with  such  force  that  any  ordinary  garment  is 
soaked  through  in  a  few  minutes.  It  is  impossible  for 
natives  to  be  always  running  home  to  change  their 
clothes  even  if  their  wardrobes  permitted,  and  remaining 
in  these  wet  garments  is  surely  provocative  of  the 
consumption  which  so  often  carries  them  off. 

Shirley  Baker  in  Tonga  made  it  a  law  that  everyone 
should  wear  an  upper  and  a  nether  garment ;  in  Samoa 
it  was  not  a  legal  question,  but  the  missionaries  made 
doubtless  well-intentioned  efforts  to  enforce  the  addition 
of  white  shirts  to  the  male,  and  overalls  to  the  female 
costume,  which  really  seemed  unnecessary  with  their 
nice  brown  skins. 

It  is  difficult  for  a  casual  visitor  to  judge  fairly  the 
influence  of  missionaries  on  natives,  but  on  the  whole,  as 
far  as  I  have  seen  missions  in  different  lands,  despite 
mistakes  and  narrow-mindedness,  it  seems  to  be  for 
good.  There  is  an  enormous  difference  between  missions 
to  ancient  civilisations  such  as  those  of  India  and 
China,  and  to  children  of  nature  such  as  the  popu- 
lation of  the  Pacific.  I  do  not  forget  the  command 
"Go  ye  and  teach  all  nations,"  an  authority  which 
no  Christian  can  dispute ;  I  am  thinking  only  of 
how  this  has  been  done,  and  with  what  effect  on  the 
"  nations." 

It  is  pretty  evident  that  when  the  nations  have  an 


MISSIONARIES  307 

elaborate  ritual  of  their  own,  and  when  the  educated 
classes  among  them  have  a  decided  tendency  to  meta- 
physics, a  ritual  such  as  that  of  the  Roman  Catholics  is 
apt  to  appeal  to  them,  and  the  men  sent  to  teach  them 
must  be  prepared  to  enter  into  their  difficulties  and 
discussions.  When,  however,  the  populations  to  be 
approached  are  merely  inclined  to  deify  the  forces  of 
nature,  and  to  believe  in  the  power  of  spirits,  if  a  man 
of  some  education  comes  among  them,  helps  them  in 
illness,  and  proves  his  superiority  in  agriculture  and  in 
the  arts  of  daily  life,  they  are  very  ready  to  accept  his 
authority  and  obey  his  injunctions. 

In  the  case  of  the  South  Sea  Islanders  there  is  no 
doubt  that  the  missionaries  have  afforded  them  pro- 
tection against  the  tyranny  and  vices  introduced  by 
many  of  the  low-class  traders  and  beachcombers  who 
exploited  them  in  every  possible  way.  The  missionaries 
have  done  their  best  to  stop  their  drinking  the  horrible 
spirits  received  from  such  men,  in  return  for  forced 
labour  and  the  produce  of  their  land.  They  have  done 
much  to  eradicate  cannibalism  and  other  evil  customs. 
Their  error  seems  to  have  been  the  attempt  to  put  down 
dances  and  festivities  of  all  kinds  on  the  plea  that  these 
were  connected  with  heathen  rites,  instead  of  encourag- 
ing them  under  proper  restrictions.  Even  when  we 
were  in  the  Islands,  however,  many  of  the  more  en- 
lightened missionaries  had  already  realised  that  human 
nature  must  have  play,  and  that,  as  St.  John  told  the 
huntsman  who  found  him  playing  with  a  partridge,  you 
cannot  keep  the  bow  always  bent.  Probably  by  now 
the  Christian  Churches  in  the  Pacific  have  learnt  much 
wisdom  by  experience. 

As  before  remarked,  there  were,  in  1892,  three  sets  of 
missionaries  in  Samoa.     Apart  from  the  Roman  Catho- 


308  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

lies,  the  most  important  were  the  London  Missionaries, 
whose  fomiders  had  been  men  of  high  education  and 
who  had  settled  in  the  Islands  about  the  time  of  Queen 
Victoria's  accession.  The  Wesleyans  had  also  made 
many  converts. 

Some  years  before  our  visit  a  sort  of  concordat  had 
been  arranged  between  the  various  Anglican  and  Pro- 
testant Churches  working  in  the  Pacific.  The  Church 
of  England  clergy  were  to  work  in  the  Islands  commonly 
called  Melanesia  ;  the  Wesleyans,  whose  great  achieve- 
ments had  been  in  Fiji,  were  to  take  that  group,  Tonga, 
and  other  offshoots  of  their  special  missions  ;  the  London 
missionaries  were  to  have  Samoa  and  other  fields  of 
labour  where  their  converts  predominated.  Under 
this  agreement  the  Wesley  an  missionaries  left  Samoa, 
but  alas  !  after  a  time  they  came  back,  to  the  not 
unnatural  indignation  of  the  London  missionaries. 
Their  plea  was  that  their  flock  begged  them  to  return. 
An  outsider  cannot  pronounce  on  the  rights  and  wrongs 
of  the  question,  but  the  feeling  engendered  was  evident 
to  the  most  casual  observer. 

As  for  the  Roman  Catholics,  we  were  sitting  one 
evening  with  a  London  missionary,  when  a  native 
servant  ran  in  to  inform  him  that  the  R.C.  priest  was 
showing  a  magic-lantern  in  which  our  host  and  one  of 
his  colleagues  were  represented  in  hell ! 

I  should  add  that  I  noticed  that  in  a  course  of  lectures 
given  to  their  students  by  the  London  missionaries  was 
one  "  on  the  errors  of  the  Roman  Church,"  but  that  was 
not  as  drastic,  nor,  I  presume,  so  exciting,  as  the  ocular 
argument  offered  by  the  priest. 

The  mythology  of  the  Samoans  was  much  like  that 
of  other  primitive  nations,  and  as  in  similar  cases  their 
gods   and   heroes   were   closely   connected.     The   chief 


sa:^ioan  mythology  309 

deity  was  a  certain  Tangoloalangi  or  "  god-of-heaven." 
He  had  a  son  called  Pilibuu,  who  came  down  to  earth, 
settled  in  Samoa,  and  planted  kava  and  sugar-cane. 
He  also  made  a  fishing-net  and  selected  as  his  place  of 
abode  a  spot  on  Upolii  large  enough  to  enable  him  to 
spread  it  out.  Pilibuu  had  four  sons  to  whom  he 
allotted  various  offices ;  one  was  to  look  after  the 
plantations,  another  to  carry  the  walking-stick  and 
fly- whisk  to  ''  do  the  talking,"  a  third  as  warrior  carried 
the  spear  and  club,  while  the  youngest  had  charge  of 
the  canoes.  To  all  he  gave  the  excellent  advice,  "  When 
you  wish  to  work,  work  ;  when  you  wish  to  talk,  talk  ; 
when  you  wish  to  fight,  fight."  The  second  injunction 
struck  me  as  that  most  congenial  to  his  descendants. 

The  Samoans  had  legends  connected  with  their  mats, 
those  of  fine  texture  being  valued  as  jewels  are  in 
Western  lands.  One  was  told  me  at  great  length  about 
a  mat  made  by  a  woman  who  was  a  spirit,  who  worked 
at  different  times  under  the  vines,  under  a  canoe,  and 
on  the  sea-shore.  Either  her  personal  charms  or  her 
industry  captivated  Tangoloalangi,  and  he  took  her  up  to 
heaven  and  made  her  his  wife.  Her  first  child,  a 
daughter,  was  endowed  with  the  mat,  and  looking  down 
from  heaven  she  was  fascinated  by  the  appearance  of  a 
fine  man  attired  in  a  lava-lava  of  red  bird-of-paradise 
feathers.  She  descended  in  a  shower  of  rain,  but  her 
Endymion,  mistaking  her  mode  of  transit  for  an  ordinary 
storm,  took  off  his  plumes  for  fear  they  should  get  wet. 
Arrived  on  earth  she  went  up  to  him  and  said,  "  Where 
is  the  man  I  saw  from  heaven  wearing  a  fine  lava-lava  ?  " 

I  am  he,"  replied  the  swain.  Incredulous,  she  re- 
torted, "  I  saw  a  man  not  so  ugly  as  you."  "  I  am  the 
same  as  before,  but  you  saw  me  from  a  distance  with  a 
red  lava-lava  on."  In  vain  he  resumed  his  adornment ; 
21 


310  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

the  charm  was  broken  and  she  would  none  of  him. 
Instead  of  returning  to  the  skies  she  wandered  to  another 
village  and  had  further  adventures  with  the  mat, 
which  she  gave  to  her  daughter  by  the  earthly  husband 
whom  she  ultimately  selected.  She  told  the  girl  that  on 
any  day  on  which  she  took  the  mat  out  to  dry  in  the  sun 
there  would  be  darkness,  rain,  and  hurricane.  The  mat 
was  still  preserved  in  the  family  of  the  man  who  told  me 
the  story,  and  was  never  taken  out  to  dry  in  the  sun. 

The  Samoans,  like  other  races,  had  a  story  of  the 
Flood,  and  one  derivation  (there  are  several)  of  the  name 
of  the  Group  is  Sa  =  sacred  or  preserved,  Moa  =  fowl, 
as  they  say  that  one  of  their  gods  preserved  his  fowls  on 
these  islands  during  the  deluge. 

They  had  sacred  symbols,  such  as  sticks,  leaves,  and 
stones,  and  a  general  belief  in  spirits,  but  I  never  heard 
of  any  special  ritual,  nor  were  there  any  traces  of 
temples  on  the  Islands.  They  seemed  a  gentle,  amiable 
people,  not  fierce  like  the  natives  of  New  Ireland,  the 
New  Hebrides,  and  others  of  negroid  type. 

The  constant  joy  of  the  natives  is  to  go  for  a  malanga 
or  boat  expedition  to  visit  neighbouring  villages,  and 
we  quite  realised  the  fascination  of  this  mode  of  progress 
when  we  were  rowed  through  the  quiet  lagoons  in  early 
morning  or  late  evening,  the  rising  or  setting  sun  striking 
colours  from  the  barrier  reefs,  and  our  boatmen  chanting 
native  songs  as  they  bent  to  their  oars.  Once  a  little 
girl  was  thrown  into  our  boat  to  attend  us  when  we 
were  going  to  sleep  in  a  native  teacher's  house.  She 
lay  down  at  the  bottom  with  a  tappa  cloth  covering  her 
from  the  sun.  We  were  amused,  when  the  men  began 
to  sing,  to  hear  her  little  voice  from  under  the  cloth 
joining  in  the  melody. 

On  this  occasion  we  visited  one  or  two  stations  of 


DESIRE    FOR    ENGLISH    PROTECTION        311 

the  London  missionaries  and  inspected  a  number  of 
young  chief  students.  I  noticed  one  youth  who  seemed 
particularly  pleased  by  something  said  to  him  by  the 
missionary.  I  asked  what  had  gratified  him,  and  Mr 
Hills  said  that  he  had  told  him  that  the  Island  from 
which  he  came  (I  think  one  of  the  Ellice  Islands)  had 
just  been  annexed  by  the  British,  and  they  were  so 
afraid  of  being  taken  by  the  Germans  !  That  well 
represented  the  general  feeling.  Once  as  we  were 
rowing  in  our  boat  a  large  native  canoe  passed  us,  and 
the  men  in  it  shouted  some  earnest  supplication.  I 
asked  what  it  was,  and  was  told  that  they  were  im- 
ploring "  by  Jesus  Christ  "  that  we  should  beg  the 
British  Government  to  take  the  Island. 

Poor  things,  not  long  after  we  left,  the  agreement  was 
made  by  which  England  assumed  the  Protectorate  of 
Tonga  and  Germany  that  of  Upolu  and  Savaii  of  the 
Samoan  group.  Since  the  war  New  Zealand  has  the 
"  mandate  "  to  govern  them,  and  I  hope  they  are 
happy.  I  never  heard  that  they  were  ill-treated  by  the 
Germans  during  their  protectorate,  but  they  had 
certainly  seen  enough  of  the  forced  labour  on  German 
plantations  to  make  them  terribly  afraid  of  their  pos- 
siblje  fate. 

The  London  missionaries  had  stations  not  only  on 
the  main  Island,  but  also  on  the  outlying  islets  of 
Manono  and  Apolima  which  they  were  anxious  that  we 
should  visit.  The  latter  was  a  small  but  romantic 
spot.  The  only  practicable  landing-place  was  between 
two  high  projecting  rocks,  and  we  were  told  that  any 
party  of  natives  taking  refuge  there  could  guarantee 
themselves  against  pursuit  by  tying  a  rope  across 
from  rock  to  rock  and  upsetting  any  hostile  canoe  into 
the  sea. 


312  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

Ocean  itself,  not  the  inhabitants,  expressed  an  ob- 
jection to  our  presence  on  this  occasion.  There  was  no 
sheltering  lagoon  to  receive  us,  the  sea  was  so  rough  and 
the  surf  so  violent  that  our  crew  assured  us  that  it  was 
impossible  to  land,  and  we  had  to  retreat  to  Manono. 
Mr.  Haggard  sent  a  message  thence  to  the  Apolima 
chiefs  assuring  them  of  our  great  regret,  and  promising 
that  I  would  send  my  portrait  to  hang  in  their  village 
guest-house.  I  told  this  to  the  head  missionary's 
wife  when  I  saw  her  again,  and  she  exclaimed  with 
much  earnestness,  "  Oh,  do  send  the  photograph  or 
they  will  all  turn  Wesleyans  I  "  To  avert  this  catas- 
trophe a  large,  elaborately  framed  photograph  was 
duly  sent  from  Sydney  and  formally  presented  by  Mr. 
Haggard.  I  trust  that  it  kept  the  score  or  so  of 
Islanders  in  the  true  faith.  A  subsequent  visitor 
found  it  hanging  upside  down  in  the  guest-house, 
and  the  last  I  heard  of  it  was  that  the  chiefs  had 
fled  with  it  to  the  hills  after  some  fighting  in  which 
they  were  defeated.  I  seem  to  have  been  an  inefficient 
fetish,  but  I  do  not  know  whose  quarrel  they  had 
embraced. 

We  had  one  delightful  picnic,  not  by  boat,  but  riding 
inland  to  a  waterfall  some  twenty  or  thirty  feet  high. 
Our  meal  was  spread  on  rocks  in  the  little  river  into 
which  it  fell,  and  after  our  limcheon  the  native  girls 
who  accompanied  us  sat  on  the  top  of  the  fall  and  let 
themselves  be  carried  by  the  water  into  the  deep  pool 
below.  My  daughter  and  I  envied,  though  we  could 
not  emulate  them,  but  my  brother  divested  himself  of 
his  outer  garments  and  clad  in  pyjamas  let  two  girls 
take  him  by  either  arm  and  shot  with  them  down  into 
the  clear  cool  water.  One  girl  who  joined  the  enter- 
tainment was  said  to  be  a  spirit,  but  there  was  no 


VISIT   FROM    TAMASESE  313 

outward  sign  to  show  wherein  she  differed  from  a  mortal. 
Mortals  or  spirits,  they  were  a  cheery,  light-hearted 
race. 

I  must  mention  Tamasese's  farewell  visit  to  us 
accompanied  by  one  or  two  followers.  Mr.  Haggard 
donned  his  uniform  for  the  occasion,  and  as  usual  we 
English  sat  in  a  row  on  chairs,  while  the  Samoans 
squatted  on  the  floor  in  front.  We  had  as  interpreter 
a  half-caste  called  Yandall,  who  had  some  shadowy 
claim  to  the  royal  blood  of  England  in  his  veins.  How 
or  why  I  never  understood,  but  he  was  held  in  vague 
esteem  on  that  account. 

At  this  visit,  after  various  polite  phrases  had  been 
interchanged,  Haggard  premised  his  oration  by  en- 
joining on  Yandall  to  interpret  his  words  exactly.  He 
first  dilated  in  flowery  language  on  the  importance  of 
mv  presence  ui  Samoa,  on  which  our  guests  interjected 
nmrmurs  of  pleased  assent.  He  then  went  on  to 
foreshadow  our  imminent  departure — mournful  "  yahs  " 
came  in  here — and  then  wound  up  with  words  to  this 
effect :  "  Partings  must  always  occur  on  earth  ;  there 
is  but  one  place  where  there  will  be  no  more  partings, 
and  that  is  the  Kingdom  of  heaven,  where  Lady  Jersey 
will  be  very  fleased  to  see  all  present  "  !  Imagine  the 
joy  of  the  Stevenson  family  when  this  gem  of  rhetoric 
was  reported  to  them. 

I  have  already  referred  to  the  story.  An  Object  of 
Pity,  or  the  Man  Haggard,  which  was  written  by  my 
l)rother  and  myself  in  collaboration  with  the  Stevensons. 
The  idea  was  that  each  author  shoiilrl  describe  his  or 
lier  own  character,  tliat  Haggard  should  be  the  hero  of 
a  romance  running  through  the  whole,  and  that  we 
should  all  imitate  the  style  of  Ouida,  to  whom  the 
booklet  was  inscribed  in  a  dcli'ditful  dedication  after- 


314  TONGA   AND   SAMOA  [oh.  xiii 

wards  written  by  Stevenson,  from  which  I  venture  to 
cull  a  few  extracts  : 

"  Lady  Ouida, — Many  besides  yourself  have  exulted  to 
collect  Olympian  polysyllables  and  to  sling  ink  not 
Wisely  but  too  Well.  They  are  forgotten,  you  endure. 
Many  have  made  it  their  goal  and  object  to  Exceed  ;  and 
who  else  has  been  so  Excessive  ?  ...  It  is  therefore, 
with  a  becoming  diffidence  that  we  profit  by  an  unusual 
circumstance  to  approach  and  to  address  you. 

"  We,  undersigned,  all  persons  of  ability  and  good 
character,  were  suddenly  startled  to  find  ourselves 
walking  in  broad  day  in  the  halls  of  one  of  your  romances. 
We  looked  about  us  with  embarrassment,  we  instinc- 
tively spoke  low ;  and  you  were  good  enough  not  to 
perceive  the  intrusion  or  to  affect  unconsciousness.  But 
we  were  there  ;  we  have  inhabited  your  tropical  imagi- 
nation ;  we  have  lived  in  the  reality  that  which  you  have 
but  dreamed  of  in  your  studio.  And  the  Man  Haggard 
above  all.  The  house  he  dwells  in  was  not  built  by  any 
carpenter,  you  wrote  it  with  your  pen  ;  the  friends  with 
which  he  has  surrounded  himself  are  the  mere  spirit  of 
your  nostrils ;  and  those  who  look  on  at  his  career  are 
kept  in  a  continual  twitter  lest  he  should  fall  out  of 
the  volume  ;  in  which  case,  I  suppose  he  must  infallibly 
injure  himself  beyond  repair ;  and  the  characters  in  the 
same  novel,  what  would  become  of  them  ?  .  .  .  The 
present  volume  has  been  written  slavishly  from  your 
own  gorgeous  but  peculiar  point  of  view.  Your  touch 
of  complaisance  in  observation,  your  genial  excess  of 
epithet,  and  the  grace  of  your  antiquarian  allusions, 
have  been  cultivated  like  the  virtues.  Could  we  do 
otherwise  ?  When  nature  and  life  had  caught  the  lyre 
from  your  burning  hands  who  were  we  to  affect  a  sterner 
independence  ?  " 

There  follow  humorous  comments  on  the  contents  of 
the  chapters,  and  the  Dedication  ends  with  the  signa- 
tures of  "  Your  fond  admirers  "  in  Samoan  with  English 


"AN    OBJECT    OF    PITY"  315 

translations.  Mrs.  Stevenson,  for  instance,  was  "  0  Le 
Fatine  Mamana  0  I  LeMaunga,  The  Witch- Woman  of 
the  Mountain  "  ;  and  the  rest  of  us  bore  like  fanciful 
designations.  It  was  of  course  absurd  daring  on  the 
part  of  Rupert  and  myself  to  write  the  initial 
chapters,  which  dealt  with  an  imaginary  conspiracy 
typical  of  the  jealousies  among  various  inhabitants  of 
the  Islands,  and  with  our  expedition  to  Malie  (Mataafa's 
Camp) ;  but  we  were  honoured  by  the  addition  of  four 
amusing  chapters  written  by  Stevenson,  Mrs.  Stevenson, 
Mrs.  Strong,  and  their  cousin  Graham  (now  Sir  Graham) 
Balfour.  The  Stevensons  gave  a  lurid  account  of 
Haggard's  evening  party  at  Ruge's  Buildings,  and  Mr. 
Balfour  projected  himself  into  the  future  and  imagined 
Haggard  old  and  historic  surrounded  by  friends  and 
evolving  memories  of  the  past. 

We  had  kept  him  in  ignorance  of  what  was  on  foot, 
but  when  all  was  complete  the  Stevensons  gave  us 
luncheon  at  Vailima  with  the  best  of  native  dishes, 
Lloyd  Osbourne,  adorned  with  leaves  and  flowers  in 
native  fashion,  officiating  as  butler.  When  the 
banquet  was  over  a  garland  of  flowers  was  hung 
round  Haggard's  neck,  a  tankard  of  ale  was  placed 
before  him,  and  Stevenson  read  aloud  the  MSS.  replete 
with  allusions  to,  and  jokes  about,  his  various  innocent 
idiosyncrasies.  So  far  from  being  annoyed,  the  good- 
natured  hero  was  quite  delighted,  and  kept  on  saying, 

What  a  compliment  all  you  people  are  paying  me  1  " 
in  tlie  end  we  posed  as  a  group,  Mrs,  Strong  lying  on 
the  ground  and  Injlding  up  an  apple  while  the  rest  of  us 
knelt  or  lient  in  various  attitudes  of  adoration  round 
the  erect  form  and  smiling  countenance  of  Haggard. 
'I'hc  ])h()t<)graph  taken  dif!  not  come  out  very  well,  but 
sufficiently  for  my  mother  later  on  to  make  a  coloured 


316  TONGA   AND    SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

sketch  for  me  to  keep  as  a  frontispiece  for  my  special 
copy  of  An  Object  of  Pity."  It  was  indeed  a  happy 
party — looking  back  it  is  sad  to  think  how  few  of  those 
present  now  survive,  but  it  was  pleasure  unalloyed 
while  it  lasted. 

As  for  the  booklet,  with  general  agreement  of  the 
authors  I  had  it  privately  printed  at  Sydney,  the  copies 
being  distributed  amongst  us.  Some  years  after  Steven- 
son's death  Mr.  Blaikie  asked  leave  to  print  twenty-five 
presentation  copies  in  the  same  form  as  the  Edin- 
burgh edition,  to  which  Mrs.  Stevenson  consented.  I 
wrote  an  explanatory  Preface,  and  lent  for  reproduction 
the  clever  little  book  of  coloured  sketches  by  Mrs. 
Strong,  with  Stevenson's  verses  underneath  to  which 
I  have  already  alluded. 

We  had  arranged  to  return  to  Australia  by  the 
American  mail-ship,  the  Marifosa,  so  after  three  of 
the  happiest  weeks  of  my  life  we  had  to  embark  on 
board  her  on  the  evening  of  September  2nd,  when  she 
entered  the  harbour  of  Apia. 

Regret  at  leaving  Samoa  was,  however,  much  allayed 
by  meeting  my  son,  Villiers,  who  had  come  across 
America  from  England  in  the  charge  of  Sir  George 
Dibbs,  our  New  South  Wales  Premier,  whose  visit  to 
the  mother-land  I  have  already  described.  Villiers  had 
grown  very  tall  since  we  parted,  he  had  finished  his 
Eton  career  and  joined  us  to  spend  some  months  in 
Australia  before  going  to  Oxford.  We  were  amused  by 
an  "  interview  "  with  him  and  Dibbs  in  one  of  the 
American  papers,  in  which  he  was  described  as  son 
of  the  Governor  of  New  South  Wales,  but  more 
like  a  young  Englishman  than  a  young  Australian, 
which  was  hardly  surprising  considering  that  he  had 
at  that  time  never  set   foot  in  Australia.     This    re- 


COURAGE    OF    R.    L.    STEVENSON  317 

minds  me  of  some  French  people  who  seeing  a 
Maharajah  in  Paris  at  the  time  of  Lord  Minto's  ap- 
pointment to  India,  thought  that  the  dignified  and 
turbaned  Indian  must  be  the  new  Viceroy — the  Earl 
of  Minto. 

Poor  Robert  Louis  Stevenson — he  died  not  long  after 
our  visit ;  his  life,  death,  and  funeral  have  been  recorded 
in  many  books  and  by  many  able  pens.  His  life,  with 
all  its  struggles  and  despite  constant  ill-health,  was,  I 
hope  and  believe,  a  happy  one.  Perhaps  we  most  of  us 
fail  to  weigh  fairly  the  compensating  joy  of  overcoming 
when  confronted  with  adversity  of  any  kind.  He  told 
me  once  how  he  had  had  a  MS.  refused  just  at  the  time 
when  he  had  undertaken  the  cares  of  a  family  represented 
by  a  wife  and  her  children,  but  I  am  sure  that  the 
pleasure  of  the  success  which  he  won  was  greater  to  his 
buoyant  nature  than  any  depression  caused  by  tem- 
porary failure. 

He  loved  his  Island  home,  though  he  had  from  time 
to  time  a  sense  of  isolation.  He  let  this  appear  once 
when  he  said  how  he  should  feel  our  departure,  and  how 
sorrj'  he  should  be  when  he  should  also  lose  the  com- 
panionship of  Haggard. 

There  has  lately  been  some  correspondence  in  the 
papers  about  misprints  in  his  books.  This  may  be  due 
in  part  to  the  necessity  of  leaving  the  correction  of  his 
proofs  to  others  when  he  was  residing  or  travelling  in 
distant  climes.  When  we  were  in  Samoa,  Una,  or  the 
lieach  of  FaJesa,  was  appearing  as  a  serial  in  an  illus- 
trated paper  of  which  I  received  a  copy.  Stevenson 
had  not  seen  it  in  print  until  I  showed  it  to  him,  and 
was  much  vexed  to  find  that  some  verbal  alteration  Imd 
been  made  in  the  text.  At  his  request  when  we  left  tlic 
Island  I  took  a  cable  to  send  oil  from  Auckland,  where 


318  TONGA  AND   SAMOA  [ch.  xiii 

our  ship  touched,  with  strict  injunctions  to  "  follow 
Una  line  by  line."  There  was  no  cable  then  direct 
from  Samoa,  and  apparently  no  arrangement  had  been 
made  to  let  the  author  see  his  own  work  while  in 
progress. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

DEPARTURE  FROM  AUSTRALIA — CHINA  AND  JAPAN 

Early  in  1893  my  husband  was  obliged  to  resign  his 
Governorship,   as    our    Welsh    agent    had    died    and 
there  were  many  urgent  calls  for  his  presence  in  England. 
The  people  of  New  South  Wales  were  most  generous  in 
their  expressions  of  regret,  and  I  need  not  dwell  on  all 
the  banquets  and  farewells  which  marked  our  departure. 
I  feel  that  all  I  have  said  of  Australia  and  of  our  many 
friends    there    is    most    inadequate ;    but    though    the 
people  and  places  offered  much  variety  in  fact,  in  de- 
scription it  would  be  most  difficult  to  avoid  repetition 
were  I  to  attempt  an  account  of  the  townships  and 
districts  which  we  visited  and  of  the  welcome  which  we 
received  from  hospitable  hosts  in  every  place.     There 
were  mining  centres  like  Newcastle  where  the  coal  was 
80  near  the  surface  that  we  walked  into  a  large  mine 
through   a   sloping  tunnel  instead  of  descending  in  a 
cage  ;  there  was  the  beautiful  scenery  of  the  Hawkesbury 
River,  the  rich  lands  round  Bathurst  and  Armidale  and 
other  stations  where  we    passed  most  enjoyable   days 
with  squatters  whose  fathers  had  rescued  these  lands 
and  made  "  the  wilderness  to  blossom  like  a  rose."     It 
often  seemed  to  me  that  one  special  reason  wliy  English- 
men in   Colonial    life  succeeded   where    other  nations 
equally    intelligent    and    enterprising    failed    to    take 
permanent  root  was  the  way  in  which  EnglishwonuMi 
would  adapt  themselves  to  isolation.     We  all  know  the 

310 


320         DEPARTURE   FROM   AUSTRALIA       [ch.  xiv 

superiority  of  many  Frencliwomen  in  domestic  arts,  but 
it  is  difficult  to  imagine  a  Frenchwoman  living  in  the 
conditions  accepted  by  English  ladies  in  all  parts  of 
the  Empire. 

One  lady  in  New  South  Wales  lived  fifteen  miles 
from  the  nearest  neighbour,  and  her  one  relaxation 
after  a  hard  day's  work  was  to  hear  that  neighbour 
playing  down  the  telephone  on  a  violin.  That,  how- 
ever, was  living  in  the  world  compared  to  the  fate  of 
another  friend  !  The  husband  of  the  latter  lady  was, 
when  we  met,  a  very  rich  man  who  drove  a  four-in-hand 
and  sent  his  son  to  Eton.  When  they  first  started 
Colonial  life  they  lived  for  five  years  a  hundred  miles 
from  any  other  white  woman.  The  lady  had  a  white 
maid- servant  of  some  kind  for  a  short  time  at  the 
beginning  of  their  career,  but  she  soon  left,  and  after 
that  she  had  only  black  "  gins  "  (women).  I  was  told 
that  one  of  her  children  had  been  burnt  in  a  bush  fire, 
and  her  brother-in-law  was  killed  by  the  blacks. 
Naturally  I  did  not  refer  to  those  tragedies,  but  I  asked 
whether  she  did  not  find  the  isolation  very  trying,  par- 
ticularly the  evenings.  She  said,  oh  no,  she  was  so 
occupied  during  the  day  and  so  tired  when  the  work 
was  over  that  she  had  no  time  to  wish  for  anything  but 
rest.  She  was  a  very  quiet,  pleasant  woman,  a  lady  in 
every  sense  of  the  word,  and  one  could  not  but  admire 
the  way  in  which  she  had  passed  through  those  hard 
and  trying  years  and  resumed  completely  civilised 
existence. 

We  heard  many  tales  of  bushrangers  from  those  who 
had  encountered  them  or  heard  of  their  performances 
from  friends.  It  is  not  very  astonishing  that  a  popu- 
lation largely  recruited  in  early  days  from  convicts 
should   have   provided  a  contingent  of  highwaymen. 


BUSHRANGERS  321 

Their  two  main  sources  of  income  were  the  oxen  and 
horses  which  they  stole  and  sold  again  after  scientifically 
"  faking  "  the  brands,  and  the  gold  which  they  robbed 
as  it  was  being  conveyed  to  distant  banks. 

I  have  referred  to  Rolf  Boldrewood's  hero  "  Star- 
light." Certain  incidents  of  his  career  were  adapted 
from  the  life  of  the  most  prominent  bushranger  Kelly, 
but  whereas  Starlight,  for  the  purpose  of  the  story,  is 
endowed  with  some  of  the  traits  of  a  fallen  angel, 
Kelly  seems  to  have  been  a  common  sort  of  villain  in 
most  respects,  only  gifted  with  exceptional  daring  and 
with  that  power  over  other  men  which  is  potent  for 
good  or  evil.  He  was  described  as  wearing  "  armour  "  ; 
I  believe  that  he  protected  himself  with  certain  kitchen 
utensils  under  his  clothes.  In  the  end,  when  hotly 
pursued  by  the  police,  he  and  his  band  underwent  a 
regular  siege  in  a  house,  but  by  that  time  the  police 
were  able  to  bring  up  reinforcements  by  rail,  the  gang 
was  forced  to  surrender,  and  Kelly  and  others  were 
executed. 

A  sordid  incident  was  that  on  the  very  night  of  his 
execution  Kelly's  brother  and  sister  appeared,  for  money, 
on  the  stage  in  a  theatre  at  Melbourne  ! 

The  railroad  was  the  effectual  means  of  stopping 
bushranging,  both  by  facilitating  the  movements  of  the 
police  and  by  enabling  gold  to  be  transported  without 
the  risks  attendant  on  coaches,  or  horsemen  who  were 
sometimes  sent  by  their  employers  to  carry  it  from 
place  to  place.  A  gentleman  told  me  how  he  had  been 
thus  conunissioned,  and  being  attacked  by  a  solitary 
bushranger  in  a  wayside  inn,  dodged  his  assailant 
round  and  round  a  stove  and  ultimately  got  off  safely. 

Bushranging  was  extinct  before  our  arrival  in  New 
South    Wales,   but  Jersey  had  one  rather  curious  ex- 


322  DEPARTURE   FROM   AUSTRALIA      [ch.  xiv 

perience  of  its  aftermatli.  An  old  man  had  murdered 
Lis  wife,  and,  in  accordance  witli  the  then  custom,  the 
capital  sentence  pronounced  upon  him  by  the  judge 
came  before  the  Governor  in  Council  for  confirmation. 
Jersey  asked  the  advice  of  each  member  in  turn,  and 
all  concurred  in  the  verdict  except  one  man,  who 
declined  to  give  an  opinion.  After  the  Council  he  took 
my  husband  aside  and  told  him  that  he  had  not 
liked  to  join  in  the  condemnation  as  he  knew  the 
criminal  personally.  He  added  this  curious  detail.  The 
murderer  had  formerly  been  connected  with  a  gang  of 
bushrangers  ;  he  had  not  actually  shared  in  their  de- 
predations, but  he  had  received  the  animals  they  stole, 
and  it  was  his  job  to  fake  the  brands — namely,  to 
efface  the  names  or  marks  of  the  proper  owners  and  to 
substitute  others  so  that  the  horses  or  cattle  could  not 
be  identified.  The  gang  was  captured  and  broken  up, 
the  members  being  all  sentenced  to  death  or  other 
severe  punishment,  but  this  man  escaped,  as  his  crimes 
could  not  be  proved  against  him.  Nemesis,  however, 
awaited  him  in  another  form.  He  kept  his  faking  iron  ; 
and  when  his  wife  was  found  murdered,  the  fatal  wound 
was  identified  as  having  been  inflicted  with  this  weapon, 
and  he  was  thereby  convicted. 

Another  story  of  those  bygone  days,  though  uncon- 
nected with  bushranging,  seems  worth  preservation. 
A  man  was  found  lying  dead  in  the  streets  of  Brisbane 
(or  some  other  town  in  Queensland),  and  there  was  no 
evidence  whatever  to  show  how  he  had  come  by  this 
fate,  though  the  fact  that  his  watch  was  missing  pointed 
to  violence  on  the  part  of  some  person  unknown.  A 
considerable  time  afterwards  certain  poor  houses  were 
demolished,  with  the  view  presumably  to  building 
better  ones   in   their  place.     Behind   a   brick  in   the 


CIRCmiSTANTIAL    EVIDENCE  323 

chimney  of  one  of  these  houses  was  found  the  missing 
watch.  A  workman  who  had  inhabited  the  house  at 
the  time  of  the  murder  was  thereupon  arrested,  and 
brought  before  a  judge  who  had  come  on  circuit.  The 
workman  protested  his  innocence,  saying  that  he  had 
seen  the  man  lying  in  the  street  and,  finding  that  he 
was  quite  dead,  appropriated  his  watch  and  took  it 
home  to  his  wife.  The  woman  had  told  him  that  he 
was  very  foolish,  as  if  the  watch  were  found  in  his 
possession  he  might  be  accused  of  killing  the  man,  and 
yielding  to  her  persuasions  instead  of  trying  to  sell  or 
wearing  it  he  hid  it  behind  the  chiimiey  where  it  was 
found.  The  story  sounded  thin,  but  on  hearing  the 
details  of  place  and  date  the  presiding  judge  exclaimed 
that  it  was  true.  When  a  young  barrister  he  himself 
had  been  in  the  same  town,  and  was  running  to  catch 
the  train  when  a  man,  apparently  drunk,  lurched 
against  him  ;  he  pushed  him  aside  and  saw  him  fall, 
but  had  no  idea  that  he  was  injured,  and  hurried  on. 
The  workman  was  acquitted,  and  I  suppose  that  the 
judge  acquitted  himself ! 

Space  has  not  admitted  any  record  of  our  visitors  at 
Sydney,  but  I  must  mention  the  pleasure  which  we  had 
in  welcoming  Miss  Shaw  who  came  on  behalf  of  The 
Times  to  examine  and  report  on  the  Kanaka  question. 
It  was  universally  allowed  that  The  Times  had  been  very 
well  advised  in  sending  out  so  charming  and  capable  a 
lady.  She  won  the  hearts  of  the  Queensland  planters, 
who  introduced  her  to  many  sides  of  plantation  life 
which  they  would  never  have  troubled  themselves  to 
show  a  mere  man.  We  gladly  continued  in  England  a 
friendship  thus  begun  at  the  Antipodes,  none  the  less 
gladly  when  Miss  Sliaw  became  the  wife  of  an  equally 
talented  servant  of  the  Empire,  Sir  Frederick  Lugard. 


324         DEPARTURE    FROM   AUSTRALIA       [ch.  xiv 

One  year  we  entertained  at  Osterley  a  number  of 
foreign  Colonial  delegates  and  asked  representative 
English  people  to  meet  them. 

Among  our  guests  were  Sir  Frederick  and  Lady 
Lugard.  The  latter  was  seated  between  a  Belgian, 
interested  in  the  Congo,  and  I  think  a  Dutchman.  After 
dinner  these  gentlemen  asked  me  in  somewhat  agitated 
tones,  "  Qui  etait  cette  dame  qui  etait  si  forte  dans  la 
question  de  TAfrique  ?  "  and  one  said  to  the  other, 
"  Ellevous  a  bien  roule,  mon  cher." 

I  explained  that  it  was  Lady  Lugard,  formerly  Miss 
Flora  Shaw. 

"  Quoi — la  grande  Miss  Shaw  !  Alors  cela  s'explique," 
was  the  reply  in  a  voice  of  awe. 

In  February  1893  Villiers  and  our  younger  children 
left  in  the  Ophir  direct  for  England,  accompanied  by 
Harry  Cholmondeley,  the  German  governess,  and  the 
servants.  My  brother  remained  on  the  staff  of  our 
successor.  Sir  Robert  Duff.  Our  eldest  daughter, 
Margaret,  stayed  with  us,  as  we  contemplated  a  visit 
to  Japan  and  a  trip  across  Canada  and  to  Chicago  on 
our  way  back,  and  wished  for  her  company. 

We  travelled  by  train  to  Toowoomba  in  Queensland, 
where  we  slept  one  night,  and  then  went  on  to  Brisbane, 
where  we  embarked  on  board  the  Eastern  Australian 
ship  the  Catterthun.  Brisbane  was  still  suffering  from 
the  after-effects  of  great  floods,  and  it  was  curious, 
particularly  in  the  suburbs,  to  see  many  houses,  which 
had  been  built  on  piles  to  avoid  the  depredation  of 
ants,  overturned,  and  lying  on  their  sides  like  houses 
thrown  out  of  a  child's  box  of  toys.  Nevertheless 
Brisbane  struck  us  as  a  cheerful  and  prosperous  city 
during  our  few  hours'  stay. 

The  voyage  through  the  lagoon  of  the  Great  Barrier 


THE    GREAT   BARRIER    REEF  325 

Reef,  though  hot,  was  most  eujoyable.  As  is  well 
kno^\Ti  this  great  coral  reef  extends  for  over  twelve 
hundred  miles  in  the  ocean  wasliing  the  north-east 
coast  of  Australia.  In  the  wide  expanse  of  sea  between 
it  and  the  mainland  ships  can  generally  sail  unvexed  by 
storms,  and  from  a  few  hours  after  we  left  Brisbane  till 
we  reached  the  muuth  of  the  North  Continent  that  was 
our  happy  condition. 

We  stopped  at  one  or  two  coast  towns  and  passed 
through  the  very  pretty  Albany  Passage  to  the  Gulf  of 
Carpentaria,  across  which  we  had  a  perfectly  smooth 
passage.  We  then  spent  a  night  or  two  with  Mr. 
Dash  wood  at  Port  Darwin,  where  we  were  much  in- 
terested in  the  population,  partly  oiSicials  of  the  Eastern 
Extension  Cable  Company  and  partly  Chinese.  Every- 
thing has  doubtless  changed  greatly  in  the  years  which 
have  intervened  since  our  visit.  Port  Darwin  was  then 
the  chief  town  of  the  Northern  Territory  of  South 
Australia — now  the  Northern  Territory  has  been  taken 
over  by  the  Commonwealth  Government,  which  appoints 
an  Administrator  and  encourages  settlement.  1  hope 
the  settlers  will  succeed,  but  Port  Darwin  remains  in  my 
memory  as  a  very  hot  place  and  the  European  inhabi- 
tants as  of  somewhat  yellow  complexion. 

The  Chinese  had  a  temple  or  Joss  house,  attached  to 
which  was  a  sort  of  hull  in  wliicli  were  stored  numerous 
jars  recalling  those  of  the  Forty  Thieves,  but  containing 
the  bones  of  dead  Chinamen  awaiting  transport  to  their 
own  country. 

While  at  Port  Durwm  Mr.  Dashwood  very  kindly 
arranged  a  Corroboree  for  us.  We  were  told  that  this 
was  one  of  the  few  places  where  such  an  entertaimnent 
was  possible.  In  parts  of  Australia  farther  south  the 
aborighials  have  become  too  civilised,  and  in  the  wilder 
22 


326  DEPARTURE    FROM   AUSTRALIA      [ch.  xiv 

places  they  were  too  shy  and  would  not  perform  before 
white  men. 

The  whole  thing  was  well  worth  seeing.  The  men 
were  almost  naked,  and  had  with  their  own  blood 
stuck  wool  in  patterns  on  their  black  bodies.  They  had 
tall  hats  or  mitres  of  bamboo  on  their  heads  and  carried 
long  spears.  The  Corroboree  began  after  dark,  and  the 
men  shouted,  danced,  and  carried  on  a  mimic  war  to 
the  glare  of  blazing  bonfires.  A  sort  of  music  or 
rhythmic  noise  accompanied  the  performance  caused  by 
weird  figures  painted  with  stripes  of  white  paint  who 
were  striking  their  thighs  with  their  hands.  They 
looked  so  uncanny  that  I  could  not  at  first  make  out 
what  they  were,  but  was  told  that  they  were  the  women 
or  "  gins."  The  scene  might  have  come  out  of  the 
infernal  regions  or  of  a  Witches'  Walpurgis  Night. 

Next  morning  my  husband  wanted  to  give  the  per- 
formers presents ;  he  was  begged  not  to  give  them 
money,  as  they  would  spend  it  in  drink,  but  he  was 
allowed  to  purchase  tobacco  and  tea  and  distribute 
packets  of  these.  Most  peaceable  quiet  men  and  women 
tidily  dressed  came  up  to  receive  them,  and  it  was 
hardly  possible  to  believe  that  these  were  the  demoniac 
warriors  who  had  thrilled  us  the  night  before. 

While  at  Port  Darwin  we  visited  the  prison,  and 
seven  or  eight  Malays,  under  sentence  of  death  for 
piracy  or  some  similar  crime,  were  paraded  for  our  in- 
spection. I  thought  this  somewhat  hard  upon  them,  but 
we  were  assured  that  such  notice  would  be  rather  pleasing 
to  them  than  otherwise,  and  their  smiling  countenances 
certainly  conveyed  that  impression.  One  odd  bit  of 
red-tape  was  connected  with  this.  Every  death-sentence 
had  to  go  to  Adelaide,  then  headquarters  of  the  Northern 
Territory  Government,  to  be  confirmed,  but  because 


COLOURED    LABOUR  327 

when  Port  Darwin  was  first  established  it  took  many 
weeks  for  any  communication  to  go  to  and  fro,  no 
criminal  could  be  executed  till  that  number  of  weeks 
had  elapsed,  although  telegraph  or  post  could  have 
reported  the  sentence  and  received  confirmation  in 
days  if  not  in  horns.  No  doubt  all  is  now  different,  but 
I  do  not  suppose  that  the  criminals  objected  to  the 
delay. 

Here,  as  elsewhere  in  the  semi-tropical  parts  of 
Australia,  the  burning  question  of  coloured  labour 
arose — one  wondered,  for  instance,  whether  such  labour 
would  not  have  largely  facilitated  the  introduction  of 
rubber.  Still  Australia  must,  and  will,  decide  this 
and  similar  problems  for  herself ;  and  if  even  strictly 
regulated  Indian  or  kanaka  labour  would  infringe  the 
ideal  of  "  White  Australia,"  the  barrier  must  be  main- 
tained. 

Of  course  our  officers  on  board  the  Catterthun  were 
white,  but  the  crew  were  Chinese.  At  one  time  an 
attempt  had  been  made  to  prevent  their  employment — 
very  much  to  Captain  Shannon's  distress,  as  he  loved 
his  Chinamen.  This  veto,  however,  was  not  in  force 
when  we  made  the  voyage,  though  the  men  were  not 
allowed  on  shore.  We  had  a  Chinese  Wesleyan  mis- 
sionary on  board,  and  we  were  told  that  when  his 
Wesleyan  friends  wanted  him  to  visit  them  at  Mel- 
bourne or  Sydney  (the  former,  I  think)  they  had  to 
deposit  £100,  to  be  refunded  when  he  returned  to  the 
ship,  as  a  guarantee  against  his  remaining  in  the  country. 

At  Port  Darwin  we  said  a  final  farewell  to  Australia 
and  sailed  for  Hong-Kong.  Our  one  port  of  call  during 
this  voyage  was  at  Dilli,  port  of  the  Portuguese  Colony 
of  Timor.  The  southern  portion  of  Timor  belongs  to 
the  Dutcli,  but  our  company  was  under  contract  to  call 


328  DEPARTURE   FROM   AUSTRALIA    [ch.  tiv 

at  the  Portuguese  port,  and  we  suffered  acutely  in  M 
consequence.  The  Portuguese  had  owned  a  gunboat 
for  five  years,  during  which  time  they  had  contrived  to 
knock  some  forty-nine  holes  in  its  boiler.  They  had  had 
it  once  repaired  by  the  Dutch,  but  it  was  past  local 
efforts,  so  we  had  to  tow  the  wretched  thing  to  Hong- 
Kong,  which  seriously  impeded  our  progress.  The 
Portuguese  could  not  even  tie  it  on  straight,  so  after  we 
had  gone  some  distance  we  had  to  send  an  officer  and  a 
carpenter  on  board.  They  found  the  three  officers  of 
the  Portuguese  Navy  who  had  it  in  charge  prostrate 
with  sea-sickness  (not  surprising  from  the  way  they 
were  tossing  about),  so  they  tied  the  vessel  properly 
behind  us,  left  a  card,  and  returned. 

Timor  was  a  picturesque  mountainous  island,  but  its 
commerce  as  far  as  we  could  learn  consisted  of  Timor 
ponies — sturdy  little  beasts — and  postage  stamps.  Of 
course  everyone  on  board  rushed  off  to  purchase  the 
latter  for  their  collections. 

I  rode  up  with  one  or  two  companions  to  a  Portuguese 
monastery  on  the  top  of  a  hill,  where  the  Father  Superior 
entertained  us  with  exceptionally  good  port  wine.  He 
said  that  he  and  his  community  educated  young  native 
chiefs.  We  tried  politely  to  ascertain  whether  the 
education  was  gratis.  The  Reverend  Father  said  that 
the  youths  did  not  pay,  but  each  brought  several 
natives  who  cultivated  the  plantations  belonging  to  the 
monastery  as  an  equivalent.  Presumably  this  was  not 
slavery,  but  what  a  convenient  way  of  paying  school 
fees  !  An  improvement  on  Squeers — the  scholars  learnt, 
and  their  attendants  toiled,  for  the  public  good. 

Timor  provided  an  interesting  addition  to  our  pas- 
sengers in  the  person  of  a  Portuguese  Archbishop  with 
his  attendant  priests.     I  believe  that  his  Grace  had  got 


HONG-KONG  329 

into  some  kind  of  ecclesiastical  hot-water  and  was 
going  to  Macao  for  inquiry,  but  I  do  not  know  parti- 
culars. However,  on  the  Sunday  following  our  depar- 
ture from  Timor  I  learnt  that  our  captain  would  read 
the  English  service  and  the  Chinese  Wesleyan  would 
hold  one  for  the  crew  on  the  lower  deck.  I  suggested  to 
the  first  officer  that  he  should  offer  the  Portuguese 
priests  facilities  for  their  rites,  as  it  seemed  only  proper 
that  all  creeds  should  take  part.  This  was  gratefully 
accepted,  but  when  a  few  days  later  I  sent  my  friend 
again  to  propose  a  service  on  March  25th  (the  Annun- 
ciation) the  padre  was  quite  annoyed,  and  asked  what 
he  knew  about  it !  My  officer  piously  declared  that 
we  knew  all  about  it,  but  the  Archbishop  would  have 
nothing  to  say  to  it. 

The  only  rough  part  of  our  whole  voyage  was  some 
twenty-four  hours  before  reaching  Hong-Kong,  and  if 
we  had  not  had  the  gunboat  dragging  behind  we  should 
probably  have  landed  before  the  storm.  I  was  greatly 
surprised  by  the  beauty  of  Hong-Kong.  Its  depth  of 
colour  is  astonishing  and  tlie  variety  of  craft  and  constant 
movement  in  the  harbour  most  fascinating.  As  viewed 
from  the  Peak,  it  was  like  a  scene  from  a  world-drama 
in  whirh  modern  civilisation  and  traffic  were  ever 
invading  the  strange  and  ancient  life  of  the  China 
beyond.  There  were  the  great  men-of-war  and  merchant 
ships  of  the  West  side  by  side  with  the  sampans  on 
which  thousands  of  Chinese  made  their  homes,  lived 
and  moved  and  had  their  being.  To  the  roofs  of  the 
sampans  the  babies  were  tied  by  long  cords  so  that  they 
might  play  on  deck  without  falling  into  the  water. 
Anyhow,  the  boys  were  securely  tied — there  seemed 
some  little  doubt  about  the  knots  in  the  case  of  girls. 
Then  behind  the  city  were  the   great  red-peaked   hills 


330  CHINA  [CH.  XIV 

which  one  sees  on  screens — I  had  always  thought  that 
they  were  the  convention  of  the  artist,  but  no,  they 
were  exact  transcripts  from  nature. 

Across  the  harbour  lay  the  British  mainland  posses- 
sion, Kowloon,  to  which  we  paid  an  amusing  visit. 
We  were  taken  by  the  Commodore  of  the  Station,  and 
as  I  believe  we  did  something  unauthorised,  gratitude 
forbids  me  to  mention  his  name.  We  entered  a  Chinese 
gambling-house,  which  was  very  quaint.  There  was  a 
high  hall  with  a  gallery  or  galleries  running  round — 
behind  were  some  little  rooms  with  men  smoking,  I 
imagine  opium.  In  the  gallery  in  which  we  took  seats 
were  several  people,  including  Chinese  ladies.  On  the 
floor  of  the  hall  was  a  table  at  which  sat  two  or  three 
Chinamen  who  appeared  to  be  playing  some  game  of 
their  own — probably  fan-tan.  We  were  given  little 
baskets  with  strings  in  which  to  let  down  our  stakes. 
As  we  did  not  know  the  game  and  had  no  idea  what  we 
were  backing,  we  put  in  some  small  coins  for  the  fun 
of  the  thing,  and  when  we  drew  them  up  again  found 
them  agreeably  multiplied.  I  had  a  shrewd  suspicion 
that  the  heathen  Chinee  recognised  our  escort  and  took 
good  care  that  we  were  not  fleeced. 

The  climate  of  Hong-Kong  is  said  to  be  very  trying, 
and  our  brief  experience  bore  this  out.  We  spent 
Easter  Sunday  there,  and  it  was  so  hot  that  attendance 
in  the  Cathedral  was  a  distinct  effort.  A  few  days 
later  we  went  on  an  expedition  to  the  Happy  Valley, 
and  it  was  so  cold  that  our  hosts  handed  round  orange 
brandy  to  keep  the  party  alive. 

While  we  were  there  our  daughter  Margaret  attended 
her  first  "  come- out  "  ball,  and  we  felt  that  it  was  quite 
an  original  performance  for  a  debutante  to  be  carried 
to  Government  House  in  a  Chinese  chair. 


CANTON  331 

Hong-Kong  should  be  a  paradise  for  the  young — there 
were  only  nine  English  girls  in  the  Colony  of  age  to  be 
invited,  and  any  number  of  young  men  from  ships  and 
offices. 

Even  more  interesting  than  Hong-Kong  was  our 
brief  visit  to  Canton.  The  railway  from  Kowloon  to 
Canton  was  not  then  built,  and  we  went  by  boat  up 
the  Pearl  River.  Everything  was  novel  to  us,  including 
the  pagodas  on  the  banks  of  the  river,  erected  to  pro- 
pitiate some  kind  of  deities  or  spirits,  but  once  there 
remaining  miused,  and  generally  falling  into  decay. 
We  reached  Canton  at  daybreak,  and  if  Hong-Kong  was 
a  revelation  Canton  was  still  more  surprising.  The 
wide  river  was  packed  with  native  vessels.  How  they 
could  move  at  all  was  a  problem  :  some  were  propelled 
by  wheels  like  water  wheels,  only  the  motive  power  was 
men  who  worked  a  perpetual  tread-mill ;  the  majority 
were  inhabited  by  a  large  river  population  called  the 
Tankers,  who  ages  before  had  taken  up  their  abode  on 
boats  when  driven  by  nature  or  man  from  land.  We 
were  told  that  they  never  willingly  went  ashore,  and  when 
compelled  to  do  so  by  business,  ran  till  they  regained 
their  floating  homes.  But  not  the  river  alone,  the  vast 
city  with  its  teeming  population  was  so  exactly  what  you 
see  in  Chinese  pictures  that  it  appeared  quite  unreal ; 
for  a  moment  I  felt  as  if  it  had  been  built  up  to  deceive 
the  Western  traveller,  as  houses  were  erected  and 
peasants  dressed  up  in  the  eighteenth  century  to  make 
Catherine  the  Great  believe  in  a  prosperous  population 
where  none  existed. 

However,  Canton  was  real,  and  the  more  we  saw 
during  our  short  stay  the  more  were  we  astonished  by 
pictures  awakened  to  life.  \Vc  visited  a  rich  merchant, 
and  his  house  and  enclosed  garden,  with  little  bridges, 


332  CHINA  [CH.  XIV 

quaintly  trimmed  shrubs,  and  summer-houses  in  which 
were  seated  portly  gentlemen  in  silk  garments  and  round 
hats  with  buttons  on  the  top,  had  been  transported 
bodily  from  the  old  Chinese  wall-paper  in  my  nursery 
at  Stoneleigh.  His  wife  was  escorted  into  his  hall  by 
attendant  maidens,  but  so  thick  was  the  paint  on  her 
face  and  mouth  that  for  her  utterance  was  as  difficult 
as  walking  on  her  tiny  feet. 

The  merchant  spoke  a  little  English,  but  was  not  very 
easy  to  understand.  He  showed  the  charmingly  deco- 
rated apartments  of  his  "  Number  One  Wife,"  but  I 
am  uncertain  whether  that  was  the  lady  we  saw  or  a 
predecessor,  and  in  the  garden  we  were  introduced  to 
"  my  Old  Brother."  We  were  entertained  with  super- 
fine tea  and  also  presented  with  some  in  packets,  but 
we  did  not  find  that  pure  Chinese  tea  was  altogether 
appreciated  by  our  friends  in  England.  We  stayed  at 
the  Consulate  with  Mr.  Watters ;  a  most  interesting 
man  who,  having  spent  a  large  portion  of  his  life  in 
China,  had  become  imbued  with  much  of  their  idealism, 
and  esteemed  them  highly  in  many  respects.  The 
Consulates  of  the  various  European  Powers  were  all 
situated  in  a  fortified  enclosure  called  the  Shameen, 
outside  the  city  proper.  It  was  very  pretty  and  pleasant, 
with  green  grass  and  nice  gardens.  Soup  made  of  birds' 
nests  duly  appeared  at  dinner.  As  is  well  known,  these 
nests  are  made  by  the  birds  themselves  of  a  kind  of 
gum,  not  of  twigs  and  leaves.  The  birds  are  a  species 
of  sea-swallow  which  builds  in  cliffs  and  rocks.  The 
nests  come  chiefly  from  Java,  Sumatra,  and  the  coasts 
of  Malacca.  Our  kind  host  also  provided  sharks' 
fins,  another  much-esteemed  luxury. 

The  wonderful  streets  of  Canton  with  their  gaily 
painted   signs   and   shops  teeming  with  goods  of  all 


THE    VICEROY    OF    CANTON  333 

descriptions,  the  temples,  Examination  Hall,  and  Prison 
have  been  described  by  so  many  travellers  that  I  will 
not  dwell  upon  them.  We  were  carried  to  all  the  sights 
in  chairs,  and  under  the  auspices  of  Mr.  Watters  were 
treated  with  every  civility,  though  I  cannot  of  course 
say  whether  any  insulting  remarks  were  made  in  the 
vernacular. 

Our  constant  friend,  Sir  Thomas  Sanderson,  had 
written  in  advance  to  ensure  that  Jersey  should  be 
treated  with  every  respect  by  the  then  Viceroy  of 
Canton,  who  was  Li-Hung  Chang's  brother.  It  was 
arranged  that  guards  belonging  to  the  Consulate  should 
accompany  my  husband  when  he  went  to  pay  his 
ceremonial  call  so  that  he  might  appear  sufficiently 
important.  He  was  very  courteously  received,  and 
took  the  opportunity  of  hinting  to  the  interpreter  that 
when  His  Excellency  returned  the  visit  my  daughter 
and  I  would  like  to  see  him.  Directly  he  arrived  at 
the  Consulate  he  expressed  a  wish  that  we  should  appear, 
and  we  gladly  obeyed  the  summons.  We  discovered 
afterwards  that  this  was  quite  an  innovation,  as  the 
Viceroy  had  never  before  seen  a  white  woman.  Any- 
how, he  seemed  just  as  amused  at  seeing  us  as  we  were 
at  seeing  him,  and  asked  every  sort  of  question  both 
about  public  matters  in  England  and  about  our  domestic 
affairs. 

He  wanted  to  know  what  would  be  done  with  my 
jewellery  when  I  died  and  why  I  did  not  wear  ear-rings. 
()i  course  he  inquired  about  the  Queen,  also  about  the 
British  Parliament.  Concerning  the  latter  the  inter- 
preter translated  the  pertinent  question,  "  His  Excel- 
lency wants  to  know  how  five  hundred  men  can  ever 
settle  anything  "—1  fear  that  my  husband  could  only 
laugh  in  reply. 


334  CHINA  [CH.  XIV 

The  Viceroy  and  his  attendants  remained  for  about 
an  hour.  We  were  seated  at  a  long  table  facing  the 
Great  Man,  and  Mr.  Watters  and  the  Vice-Consul  at 
either  end.  When  our  guest  and  his  followers  had 
departed  Mr.  Watters  told  us  that  they  had  been  care- 
fully watching  lest  anything  should  have  been  said  in 
Chinese  which  could  have  been  construed  as  deroga- 
tory to  the  British.  Only  once,  he  said,  had  a  term 
been  used  with  regard  to  the  Queen's  sons  which  was 
not  absolutely  the  highest  properly  applied  to  Princes. 
The  Viceroy  was,  however,  in  such  a  good  temper  and 
the  whole  interview  went  off  so  well  that  they  thought 
it  wiser  to  take  no  notice  of  this  single  lapse  from  diplo- 
matic courtesy. 

It  was,  probably  still  is,  necessary  to  keep  eyes  and 
ears  open  in  dealing  with  the  "  childlike  and  bland  " 
race.  The  late  Lord  Loch  once  described  to  me  a 
typical  scene  which  took  place  when  he  was  Governor 
of  Hong-Kong.  A  great  review  of  British  troops  was 
being  held  at  which  a  prominent  Chinese  Governor  or 
General  (I  forget  which)  was  present  and  a  number 
of  Chinese  were  onlookers.  The  Chinese  ofi&cial  was 
exceedingly  anxious  to  edge  out  of  his  allotted  position 
to  one  a  little  in  front  of  Lord  Loch,  who  was  of  course 
taking  the  salute.  If  he  had  succeeded  in  doing  so  his 
countrymen  would  have  at  once  believed  in  the  Chinese 
claim  that  all  foreign  nations  were  tributary  to  the 
Son  of  Heaven  and  have  accepted  the  salute  as  a  recog- 
nition of  the  fact.  Lord  Loch  therefore  stepped  a  little 
in  advance  each  time  that  his  guest  moved  forward,  and 
this  continued  till  both,  becoming  aware  of  the  absurdity 
of  the  situation,  burst  out  laughing  and  the  gentleman 
with  the  pigtail  perforce  resigned  his  "  push." 

Thanks  to  Mr.  Watters  we  were  able  to  buy  some 


JAPANESE    SCENERY  335 

exceptionally  good  Mandarins'  coats  and  embroideries, 
as  he  found  dealers  who  had  really  fine  things  and  made 
them  miderstand  that  Jersey  meant  business. 

From  Hong-Kong  we  sailed  in  an  ^\jiierican  ship  for 
Japan,  and  landed  at  Kobe  towards  the  middle  of 
April.  We  had  a  very  pleasant  captain,  who  amused 
me  by  the  plaintive  way  in  which  he  spoke  of  the  cross- 
examination  to  which  he  was  subjected  by  many  pas- 
sengers. One  man  was  much  annoyed  by  the  day  lost 
in  crossing  170°  longitude.  "  I  tried  to  explain  as 
courteously  as  I  could,"  said  the  captain,  "  but  at  last 
he  exclaimed,  '  I  don't  believe  you  know  anything 
about  it,  but  I  have  a  brother-in-law  in  a  bank  in  New 
York  and  I  shall  write  and  ask  him  !  '  " — as  if  they  kept 
the  missing  day  in  the  bank. 

Kobe  is  approached  through  the  beautiful  inland  sea, 
but  unfortunately  it  was  foggy  as  we  passed  through,  so 
we  lost  the  famous  panorama,  but  we  soon  had  every 
opportunity  of  admiring  the  charms  of  Nature  in 
Japan.  We  had  always  heard  of  the  quaint  houses  and 
people,  of  their  valour  and  their  art,  but  somehow  no 
one  had  told  us  of  the  beauty  of  the  scenery,  and  it  was 
quite  a  revelation  to  us. 

I  do  not  attempt  any  account  of  the  wonderful  towns, 
tombs,  and  temples  which  we  saw  during  our  month's 
sojourn  in  the  country,  as  travellers  and  historians  have 
described  them  again  and  again,  and  Lafcadio  Heani 
and  others  who  knew  the  people  well  have  written  of 
the  spirit  and  devotion  of  tlie  Japanese  ;  but  I  venture 
to  transcribe  a  few  words  from  an  article  which  I  wrote 
just  after  our  visit  for  The  Nineteenth  Century,  giving 
my  impressions  of  the  landscape  in  spring  : 

"  Japanese  scenery  looks  as  if  it  ought  to  be  etched. 
Large  broad  masses  of  light  and  shade  would  fail  to 


336  JAPAN  [CH.  XIV 

convey  the  full  effect.  Between  trees  varied  in  colour- 
ing and  delicate  in  tracery  peep  the  thatched  cottage 
roofs  and  the  neat  grey  rounded  tiles  of  little  wooden 
houses  standing  in  gardens  gay  with  peach  blossom  and 
wisteria  ;  while  the  valleys  are  mapped  out  into  minute 
patches  of  green  young  corn  or  flooded  paddy-fields 
interspersed  here  and  there  with  trellises  over  which 
are  trained  the  spreading  white  branches  of  the  pear. 
Everywhere  are  broad  river-courses  and  rushing  moun- 
tain streams,  and  now  and  again  some  stately  avenue 
of  the  sacred  cryptomeria  leads  to  a  temple,  monastery, 
or  tomb.  Nothing  more  magnificent  than  these  avenues 
can  be  conceived.  The  tall  madder-pink  stems  rear 
their  tufted  crests  in  some  cases  seventy  or  eighty  feet 
into  the  air,  and  the  ground  below  is  carpeted  with  red 
pyrus  japonica,  violets,  ferns,  and,  near  the  romantic 
monastery  of  Doryo-San,  with  a  kind  of  lily  or  iris 
whose  white  petals  are  marked  with  lilac  and  yellow. 
The  avenue  leading  to  Nikko  extends  in  an  almost  un- 
broken line  for  over  fifteen  miles,  the  trees  being  known 
as  the  offering  of  a  daimio  who  was  too  poor  to  present 
the  usual  stone  or  bronze  lantern  at  the  tomb  of  the 
great  Shogun  leyasu." 

At  Tokyo  we  were  hospitably  entertained  at  the 
Legation  by  Mr.  (now  Sir  Maurice)  de  Bunsen,  Charge 
d'Affaires,  in  the  absence  of  the  Minister.  The 
Secretary  of  Legation,  Mr.  Spring  Rice  (afterwards  Sir 
Cecil),  added  greatly  to  our  pleasure  by  his  knowledge 
of  things  Japanese  and  the  trouble  he  took  to  explain 
them. 

A  letter  to  my  mother,  dated  April  1893,  resumes 
many  of  my  impressions  of  a  Japan  of  nearly  thirty 
years  ago  when  it  was  still  only  emerging  from  its 
century-long  seclusion. 

"  You   cannot   imagine   what   a   delightful   country ' 
Japan  is.     Not  only  is  it  so  pretty,  but  it  is  so  full  of 
real  interest.     I  had  imagined  that  it  was  rather  a 


INTERVIEW    WITH    THE    EMPRESS         3S7 

joke  full  of  toy-houses  and  toy-people — on  the  contrary 
one  finds  great  feudal  castles  with  moats  and  battle- 
ments, gigantic  stones  fifteen  feet  long,  and  the  whole 
place  full  of  legends  of  knights  and  their  retainers, 
ghosts  and  witches  and  enchantments.  .  .  .  The  Clau- 
syst^m  here  was  in  full-swing  till  just  the  other  day, 
when  Sir  Harry  Parkes  routed  out  the  Mikado,  and  the 
Shoguns  (Tycoons)  or  Great  War  Lords,  who  had 
ruled  the  country  for  centuries,  had  at  last  to  give  way. 

"  Even  now  the  representatives  of  the  greatest  clans 
hold  chief  places  in  the  Ministry  and  Naval  and  Military 
Departments,  and  the  question  in  Parliament  here  is 
whether  the  radical  opposition  can  break  up  the  clan- 
system  and  distribute  the  loaves  and  fishes  of  Govern- 
ment patronage  evenly  amongst  the  people.  Meantime 
I  doubt  if  the  Mikado,  or  Emperor  as  it  is  most  proper  to 
call  him,  is  very  happy  in  his  new  life.  He  thinks  it 
correct  to  adapt  himself  to  '  W^estern  civilisation,'  but 
very  evidently  prefers  the  seclusion  of  his  ancestors 
and  has  credit  for  hating  seeing  people.  There  was  to 
have  been  a  garden  party — the  Cherry  Blossom  Party — 
at  the  Palace  last  Friday,  but  unfortunately  it  pelted, 
so  it  was  promptly  given  up  and  everyone  said  that 
His  Imperial  Majesty  was  very  glad  not  to  have  to 
'show.' 

"  However  G.  had  an  audience  with  him  yesterday  and 
all  of  us  with  the  Empress.  It  was  rather  funny.  In 
the  first  place  there  was  great  discussion  about  our 
clothes,  G.  went  in  uniform,  but  the  olficial  documents 
granting  audience  specified  that  the  ladies  were  to 
appear  at  10  a.m.,  in  high  gowns — and  in  the  middle  of 
the  Japanese  characters  came  the  French  words  '  robes 
en  traine.'  The  wife  of  the  Vice-Chamberlain — an 
Englisliwoman  — also  wrote  to  explain  that  we  must 
come  without  bonnets  and  with  high  gcjwns  with  trains  ! 
80  we  had  to  write  back  and  explain  that  my  latest 
Paris  morning  frock  liad  but  a  short  train  and  M's 
smartest  ditto  lunm  at  ail. 

"  However,  they  promised  to  explain  this  to  the 
Empress,  and  we  arrived  at  the  Palace,  which  we  found 


338  JAPAN  [CH.  XIV 

swarming  with  gold-laced  officials,  chamberlains,  vice- 
chamberlains,  and  pages,  and  ladies  in  their  regulation 
costume — high  silk  gowns  just  like  afternoon  garments 
but  with  long  tails  of  the  same  material,  about  as  long  as 
for  drawing-rooms — how  they  could  have  expected  the 
passing  voyager  to  be  prepared  with  this  peculiar  fashion 
at  twenty-four  hours'  notice  I  know  not,  and  I  think 
it  was  lucky  that  I  had  a  flowered  brocade  with  some 
kind  of  train  to  it. 

"  The  saloons  were  very  magnificent — built  five  years 
ago — all  that  was  Japanese  in  them  first-class — the 
European  decorations  a  German  imitation  of  something 
between  Louis  XV  and  Empire,  which  I  leave  to  your 
imagination.  G.  was  carried  off  in  one  direction 
whilst  we  were  left  to  a  trained  little  lady  who  fortu- 
nately spoke  a  little  English,  and  after  a  bit  we  were 
taken  to  a  corridor  where  we  rejoined  G.  and  Mr.  de 
Bunsen  and  were  led  through  more  passages  to  a  little 
room  where  a  little  lady  stood  bolt  upright  in  a  purple 
gown  with  a  small  pattern  of  gold  flowers  and  an  order — 
Japanese,  I  believe.  She  had  a  lady  to  interpret  on  her 
right,  and  two  more,  maids  of  honour,  I  suppose,  in  the 
background.  The  interpreting  lady  appeared  to  be 
alive — the  vitality  of  the  others  was  doubtful.  We  all 
bowed  and  curtsied,  and  I  was  told  to  go  up  to  the 
Empress,  which  I  did,  and  when  I  was  near  enough  to 
avoid  the  possibility  of  her  moving,  she  shook  hands 
and  said  something  almost  in  a  whisper,  interpreted  to 
mean  that  she  was  very  glad  to  see  me  for  the  first 
time.  I  expressed  proper  gratification,  then  she  asked 
as  to  the  length  of  our  stay,  and  finally  said  how  sorry 
she  was  for  the  postponement  of  the  garden  party,  to 
which  I  responded  with,  I  trust,  true  Eastern  hyperbole 
that  Her  Majesty's  kindness  in  receiving  us  repaid  me 
for  the  disappointment.  This  seemed  to  please  her, 
and  then  she  shook  hands  again,  and  went  through  her 
little  formulae  with  M.  and  G.,  giving  one  sentence  to 
the  former  and  two  to  the  latter,  after  which  with  a 
great  deal  more  bowing  and  curtsying  we  got  out  of 
the  room  and  were  shown  through  the  other  apartments. 


THE  SACRED  MIRROR  OF  THE  SUN-GODDESS     339 

I  heard  afterwards  that  Her  Majesty  was  very  pleased 
with  the  interview,  so  slie  must  be  easily  gratitied,  poor 
dear.  I  am  told  '  by  those  who  know  '  that  she  is  an 
excellent  woman,  does  a  great  deal  for  schools  and  hos- 
pitals to  the  extent  on  at  least  one  occasion  of  giving 
away  all  her  pocket-money  for  the  year  and  leaving 
herself  with  none.  The  poor  woman  has  no  children, 
but  the  Emperor  is  allowed  other  inferior  spouses — 
with  no  recognised  position — to  the  number  of  ten.  I 
do  not  know  how  many  ladies  he  has,  but  he  has  one 
little  boy  and  two  or  three  girls.  The  little  boy  is 
thirteen  and  goes  to  a  day-school,  so  is  expected  to  be 
of  much  more  social  disposition  than  his  papa." 

The  boy  in  question  is  now  Emperor  and  has  un- 
fortunately broken  down  in  health.  Mrs.  Sannomya 
(afterwards  Baroness),  wife  of  the  Vice-Chamberlain, 
told  me  that  he  was  very  intelligent,  and  that  the 
Empress,  who  adopted  him  in  accordance  with  Japanese 
custom,  was  fond  of  him.  She  also  told  me  that  the 
secondary  wives  were  about  the  Court,  but  that  it  was 
not  generally  known  which  were  the  mothers  of  the 
Prince  and  Princesses.  Mrs.  Sannomya  personally 
knew  which  they  were,  but  the  children  were  to  be 
considered  as  belonging  to  the  Emperor  and  Empress, 
the  individual  mothers  had  no  recognised  claim  upon 
them.  I  believe  that  this  Oriental  "  zenana  "  arrange- 
ment no  longer  exists,  but  meanwhile  it  assured  the 
unbroken  descent  of  the  Imperial  rulers  from  the  Sun- 
goddess.  We  were  assured  that  the  reigning  Emperor 
still  possessed  the  divine  sword,  the  ball  or  jewel,  and 
the  mirror  with  which  she  endowed  her  progeny.  The 
mirror  is  the  symbol  ot  Shinto,  the  orthodox  faith  of 
Japan,  and  it  derives  its  sanctity  from  the  incident 
that  it  was  used  to  attract  the  Sun-goddess  from  a 
cave  whither  she  had  retired  in  high  dudgeon  after  a 


340  JAPAN  [OH.  XIV 

quarrel  with  another  deity.  In  fact  it  seems  to  have 
acted  as  a  pre-historic  heliograph.  By  the  crowing 
of  a  cock  and  the  flashing  of  the  mirror  Ten  sho  dai  jin 
was  induced  to  think  that  morning  had  dawned,  and 
once  more  to  irradiate  the  universe  with  her  beams. 

Though  Shintoism,  the  ancient  ancestral  creed,  was 
re-established  when  the  Emperor  issued  from  his  long 
seclusion,  the  mass  of  the  population  no  doubt  prefer 
the  less  abstract  and  more  ritualistic  Buddhism  of 
China  and  Japan.  What  the  educated  classes  really 
believe  is  exceedingly  hard  to  discover.  A  very  charm- 
ing Japanese  diplomatic  lady  remarked  to  me  one 
Sunday  at  Osterley  in  connection  with  church-going 
that "  it  must  be  very  nice  to  have  a  religion.'  Viscount 
Hayashi  summed  up  the  popular  creed,  in  answer  to 
an  inquiry  on  my  part,  as  "  the  ethics  of  Confucius  with 
the  religious  sanction  of  Buddhism  "  :  perhaps  that  is 
as  good  a  definition  as  any  other. 

It  seems  doubtful  whether  Christianity  has  made 
solid  progress,  though  treated  with  due  respect  by  the 
Government.  Mr.  Max  Miiller  told  me  that  when  the 
Japanese  were  sending  emissaries  to  the  various  WesterA 
Powers  with  instructions  to  investigate  their  methods 
both  in  war  and  peace,  two  of  these  envoys  visited 
him  and  asked  him  to  supply  them  with  a  suitable 
creed.  "  I  told  them,"  said  he,  "  '  Be  good  Buddhists 
first  and  I  will  think  of  something  for  you/  ''  An 
English  lady  long  resident  in  Japan  threw  some  further 
light  on  the  Japanese  view  of  ready-made  religious 
faith.  At  the  time  when  foreign  instructors  were 
employed  to  start  Japan  with  her  face  turned  west- 
ward, a  German  was  enlisted  to  teach  court  etiquette,  no 
doubt  including  "  robes  montantes  en  traine."  While 
still  in  this  service  a  Court  official  requested  him  to 


CHRISTIANITY   IN    JAPAN  341 

supply  the  full  ceremonial  of  a  Court  Christening. 
"  But/'  returned  the  Teuton,  "  you  are  not  Christians,  so 
how  can  I  provide  you  with  a  Christening  ceremony  ?  " 
"  Never  mind,"  was  the  reply,  "  you  had  better  give 
it  us  now  that  you  are  here  ;  we  never  know  when  we 
may  want  it/' 

St.  Francis  Xavier,  who  preached  Christianity  to  the 
Japanese  in  the  sixteenth  century,  records  the  testimony 
of  his  Japanese  secretary,  whom  he  found  and  converted 
at  Goa,  as  to  the  effect  likely  to  be  produced  on  his 
fellow-countrymen  by  the  saintly  missionary.  "  His 
people,"  said  Anjiro  of  Satsuma,  "  would  not  immedi- 
ately assent  to  what  might  be  said  to  them,  but  they 
would  investigate  what  I  might  affirm  respecting 
religion  by  a  multitude  of  questions,  and  above  all  by 
observing  whether  my  conduct  agreed  wuth  my  words. 
This  done,  the  King,  the  nobility,  and  adult  population 
would  flock  to  Christ,  being  a  nation  which  always 
follows  reason  as  a  guide." 

Whether  convinced  by  reason  or  example  it  is  certain 
that  the  Japanese  of  the  day  accepted  Christianity  in 
large  numbers,  and  that  many  held  firm  in  the  terrible 
persecution  which  raged  later  on.  Nevertheless  tlie 
Christian  faith  was  almost  exterminated  at  the  beginning 
of  the  seventeenth  century,  only  a  few  lingering  traces 
being  found  when  the  country  was  reopened  to  missions 
in  the  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth. 

Nowadays  the  Japanese  idea  unfortunately  appears 
to  be  that  Christianity  has  not  much  influence  on  the 
statesmanship  of  foreign  countries,  and  their  leading 
men  in  competition  willi  the  West  seem  too  keen  on 
pushing  to  the  front  in  material  directions  to  trouble 
much  about  abstract  d(jctrines.  Belief  in  a  spirit-world, 
however,  certainly  prevailed  among  the  masses  of  the 
23 


342  JAPAN  [CH,  XIV 

people  whom  we  saw  frequenting  temples  and  joining 
in  cheerful  pilgrimages. 

The  great  interests  of  our  visit  from  a  social  and 
political  point  of  view  was  finding  an  acute  and  active- 
minded  race  in  a  deliberate  and  determined  state  of 
transition  from  a  loyal  and  chivalrous  past  to  an  essen- 
tially modern  but  still  heroic  future.  Neither  the  war 
with  China  nor  that  with  Russia  had  then  taken  place, 
but  foundations  were  being  laid  which  were  to  ensure 
victory  in  both  cases.  The  Daimios  had  surrendered 
their  land  to  the  Emperor  and  received  in  return  modem 
titles  of  nobility,  and  incomes  calculated  on  their 
former  revenues.  The  tillers  of  the  soil  were  secured 
on  their  former  holdings  and  instead  of  rent  paid  land- 
tax.  Naturally  everything  was  not  settled  without 
much  discontent,  particularly  on  the  part  of  the  peas- 
ants, who  thought,  as  in  other  countries,  that  any  sort 
of  revolution  ought  to  result  in  their  having  the  land  in 
fee-simple.  Much  water,  however,  has  flowed  under 
the  Sacred  Bridges  of  Japan  since  we  were  there,  and 
I  do  not  attempt  to  tread  the  labyrinths  of  the  agrarian 
or  other  problems  with  which  the  statesmen  of  New 
Japan  had  or  have  to  deal. 

One  thing,  however,  was  evident  even  to  those  who, 
like  ourselves,  spent  but  a  short  time  in  the  country. 
The  younger  nobles  gained  more  than  they  lost  in  many 
ways  by  the  abandonment  of  their  feudal  prominence. 
Their  fathers  had  been  more  subservient  to  the  Shoguns 
than  the  French  nobility  to  Louis  XIV.  The  third  of 
the  Tokugawa  line,  who  lived  in  the  seventeenth 
century,  decreed  that  the  daimios  were  to  spend  half  the 
year  at  Yedo  (the  modern  Tokyo),  and  even  when  they 
were  allowed  to  return  to  their  own  estates  they  were 
obliged  to  leave  their  wives  and  families  in  the  capital 


DADIIOS    OF    OLD    JAPAN  343 

as  hostages.  The  mountain  passes  were  strictly  guarded, 
and  all  persons  traversing  them  rigidly  searched,  cruci- 
fixion being  the  punishment  meted  out  to  such  as  left 
the  Shogun's  territory  without  a  permit.  On  the 
shores  of  the  beautiful  Lake  Hakone  at  the  foot  of  the 
main  pass  villas  were  still  pointed  out  where  the  daimio3 
rested  on  their  journey,  and  we  were  told  that  a 
neighbouring  town  was  in  other  times  largely  popu- 
lated by  hair-dressers,  who  had  to  rearrange  the 
elaborate  coiffures  of  the  ladies  who  were  forced  to 
take  their  hair  down  before  passing  the  Hakone  Bar. 
True,  the  daimios  lived  and  travelled  with  great  state  and 
had  armies  of  retainers,  but  at  least  one  great  noble  con- 
fessed to  me  that  the  freedom  which  he  then  enjoyed 
fully  compensated  him  for  the  loss  of  former  grandeur. 

My  daughter  who  "  came  out''  at  Hong-Kong  had  quite 
a  gay  little  season  at  Tokyo,  as  we  were  hospitably  enter- 
tained by  both  Japanese  and  diplomats,  and  amongst 
other  festivities  we  thoroughly  enjoyed  a  splendid 
ball  given  by  Marquis  Naboshima,  the  Emperor's  Master 
of  Ceremonies. 

We  were  also  fortunate  in  seeing  the  actor  Danjolo, 
commonly  called  the  "  Irving  of  Japan,"  in  one  of  his 
principal  characters.  The  floor  of  the  theatre  was 
divided  into  little  square  boxes  in  which  knelt  the 
audience,  men,  women,  and  children.  From  the  main 
entrance  of  the  house  to  the  stage  ran  a  gangway, 
somewhat  elevated  above  the  floor  ;  this  was  called  the 
Flowery  Path,  and  served  not  only  as  a  means  of  access 
to  the  boxes  on  either  side,  but  also  as  an  approach  by 
which  some  of  the  principal  actors  made  a  sensational 
entrance  (jn  the  scene.  A  large  gallery,  divided  like 
the  partem;,  run  round  three  sides  of  the  house  and  was 
reached  from  an  outside  balcony.     European  spectators 


344  JAPAN  [CH.  xrv 

taking  seats  in  the  gallery  were  accommodated  with 
chairs. 

The  main  feature  wherein  the  Japanese  differed  from 
an  English  stage  was  that  the  whole  central  part  of  the 
former  was  round  and  turned  on  a  pivot.  The  scenery, 
simple  but  historically  correct,  ran  across  the  diameter 
of  the  reversible  part ;  so  while  one  scenic  background 
was  before  the  audience  another  was  prepared  behind 
and  wheeled  round  when  wanted.  To  remove  impedi- 
menta at  the  sides  or  anything  which  had  to  be  taken 
away  during  the  progress  of  a  scene,  little  black  figures 
with  black  veils  over  their  faces,  like  familiars  of  the 
Inquisition,  came  in,  and  Japanese  politeness  accepted 
them  as  invisible. 

Danjolo,  who  acted  the  part  of  a  wicked  uncle,  proved 
himself  worthy  of  his  reputation  and  was  excellently 
supported  by  his  company.  All  the  parts  were  taken 
by  men  ;  some  plays  were  in  those  days  acted  by  women, 
but  it  was  not  then  customary  for  the  two  sexes  to  per- 
form together.  Now  I  believe  that  the  barrier  has  been 
broken  down  and  that  they  do  so  freely. 

When  we  had  a  Japanese  dinner  at  the  Club  the 
charming  little  waitresses  gave  dramatic  performances 
in  intervals  between  the  courses. 

Certainly  the  Japanese  are  prompt  in  emergency.  A 
Japanese  of  high  rank  once  told  me  how  the  Rising  Sun 
came  to  be  the  National  Flag.  A  Japanese  ship  arrived 
at  an  American  port  and  the  harbour  authorities  de- 
manded to  know  under  what  flag  she  sailed.  This  was 
before  the  days  when  Japan  had  entered  freely  into 
commercial  relations  with  other  lands,  and  the  captain 
had  no  idea  of  a  national  ensign.  Not  to  be  outdone  by 
other  mariners,  he  secured  a  large  piece  of  white  linen 
and  painted  upon  it  a  large  red  orb.     This  was  offered 


JAPANESE    FRIENDS  345 

and  accepted  as  the  National  Flag  of  Japan,  and  is 
still  the  flag  of  her  merchant  fleet.  With  rays  darting 
from  it,  it  has  become  the  ensign  of  her  warsliips,  and, 
as  a  gold  chrysanthemum  on  a  red  ground,  represents 
the  Rising  Sun  in  the  Imperial  Standard.  According 
to  my  informant,  who  told  me  the  tale  at  a  dinner- 
party in  London,  the  whole  idea  sprang  from  the 
merchant  captain's  readiness  of  resource. 

Whatever  changes  Japan  may  undergo,  it  must 
still  retain  the  charm  of  its  pure,  transparent  atmo- 
sphere with  the  delicate  hues  which  I  never  saw  else- 
where except  in  Greece.  In  some  respects,  unlike  as 
they  are  physically,  the  Japanese  recall  the  quick- 
witted, art-loving  Greeks.  Again,  Japan,  with  its 
lovely  lakes  and  mountains  and  its  rich  vegetation,  has 
something  in  common  with  New  Zealand,  and,  like 
those  happy  Islands,  it  has  the  luxury  of  natural  hot 
springs.  I  shall  never  forget  the  hotel  at  Miyanoshita. 
where  the  large  bathrooms  on  the  ground-floor  were 
supplied  with  unlimited  hot  and  cold  water  conducted 
in  simple  bamboo  pipes  direct  from  springs  in  a  hill 
just  behind  the  house. 

Still  more  vividly  do  I  recall  tlie  Japanese  who  did 
80  much  for  our  eiijo}ment  at  Tokyo.  Amongst  others 
was  the  delightful  Mrs.  Inouye,  whose  husband,  as 
Marquis  Inouye,  has  since  been  Ambassador  in  London. 
Marchioness  Inouye  has  remained  a  real  friend,  and 
constantly  sends  me  news  from  the  Island  Empire.  Nor 
must  1  forget  how  much  we  saw  under  the  guidance  of 
my  cousin,  the  Rev,  Lionel  Cholmondeley,  for  many 
years  a  missionary  in  Japan,  and  Chaplain  to  the  British 
Embas.sy  there. 


CHAPTER  XV 

JOURNEY  HOME — THE   NILE — LORD   KITCHENER 

Our  sojourn  in  Japan  was  all  too  short,  and  we  sailed 
from  Yokohama  in  a  ship  of  the  Empress  Line  on  May 
12.  Capturing  a  spare  day  at  170°  longitude,  we 
reached  Vancouver  on  the  Queen's  Birthday.  Our 
thirteen  days'  voyage  was  somewhat  tedious,  as  I  do 
not  think  that  we  passed  a  single  ship  on  the  whole 
transit.  The  weather  was  dull  and  grey,  and  there 
was  a  continuous  rolling  sea,  but  I  must  say  for  our 
ship  that  no  one  suffered  from  sea-sickness.  She  lived 
up  to  the  repute  which  we  had  heard  concerning  these 
liners  ;  they  were  broad  and  steady,  and  I  for  one  was 
duly  grateful. 

We  had  some  pleasant  fellow-passengers,  including 
Orlando  Bridgeman  (now  Lord  Bradford)  and  his 
cousin  Mr.  William  Bridgeman  (now  a  prominent 
politician).  A  voyage  otherwise  singularly  devoid  of 
excitement  was  agitated  by  the  discovery  of  one  or 
more  cases  of  small-pox  among  the  Chinese  on  board. 
Every  effort  was  made  to  keep  this  dark,  but  when  the 
ukase  went  forth  that  every  passenger  who  had  not  been 
vaccinated  recently  must  undergo  the  operation,  no 
doubt  remained  as  to  the  truth  of  the  rumours  current. 
Fortunately  my  husband,  my  daughter,  myself,  and 
my  maid  had  all  been  vaccinated  just  before  leaving 
Sydney,  but  we  still  felt  anxious  about  possible  quaran- 
tine at  Victoria — the  port  on  the  Island  of  Vancouver — 

346 


THE    WELL-FORGED    LIXK    OF    EMPIRE     347 

the  town  being  on  the  mainland.  Nothing  liappened, 
however,  and  if  the  ship's  doctor  perjured  himself,  and 
if  the  captain  did  not  contradict  him,  I  trust  that  the 
Recording  Angel  did  not  set  it  down,  as  the  relief  of  the 
passengers  was  indeed  great. 

The  truth  afterwards  so  forcibly  expressed  by  Rudyard 
Kipling  was  brought  home  to  us  when  landing  on  Cana- 
dian shores  : 

'*  Take  'old  of  the  Wings  o'  the  mornin', 
An'  flop  round  the  earth  till  you're  dead  ; 
But  you  won't  got  away  from  the  tune  that  they  play 
To  the  bloorain'  old  rag  over'eatd." 

Every  morning  at  Sydney  we  were  aroused  by  "  God 
Save  the  Queen  "  from  the  men-of-war  in  the  harbour 
just  below  Goverimient  House,  and  at  Vancouver  we 
found  the  whole  population  busy  celebrating  Queen 
Victoria's  Birthday.  At  the  hotel  nobody  was  left  in 
charge  but  a  boy  of  fourteen,  a  most  intelligent  youth 
who  somehow  lodged  and  fed  us.  Next  day  we  were 
anxious  to  find  him  and  recognise  his  kind  attentions 
before  leaving,  but  evidently  in  his  case  sport  out- 
weighed possible  tips,  for  he  had  gone  to  the  races 
without  giving  us  a  chance. 

Vancouver  had  a  curiously  unfinished  appearance 
when  we  saw  it,  houses  just  arising  and  streets  laid  out 
but  not  completed.  I  have  heard,  and  fully  believe, 
that  it  has  since  become  a  very  fine  city,  rising  as  it 
does  just  within  the  Gateway  to  the  Pacific,  though  it 
is  of  Victoria  that  Rudyard  Kipling  (to  quote  him 
again)  sings  : 

"  From  East  to  Wfwt  tho  testod  chain  holds  fast. 
The  woll-for^ijd  link  ringn  true." 

The  Directors  of  the  Canadian  Pacific  had  most 
kindly  assigned  a  private  car  to  our  use,  but  we  had 


348  JOURNEY   HOME  [ch.  xv 

arrived  a  little  before  we  had  been  expected,  and  as  our 
time  was  limited  we  travelled  in  the  ordinary  train  as 
far  as  Glacier,  where  we  slept  and  the  car  caught  us  up. 

Glacier  in  the  Rockies  well  deserved  its  name,  as  we 
found  ourselves  once  more  in  the  midst  of  ice  and 
frozen  snow  such  as  we  had  not  seen  except  on  distant 
mountains  for  over  two  years.  We  were  allowed  to 
attach  the  car  to  the  through  trains,  and  detach  it  to 
wait  for  another,  as  desired,  which  gave  us  the  chance 
of  seeing  not  only  the  great  mountains  and  waterfalls 
as  we  flew  by,  but  also  of  admiring  at  leisure  some  of 
the  more  famous  places. 

From  Winnipeg  our  luxurious  car  with  its  bedrooms 
and  living-rooms  all  complete  took  us  down  as  far  as 
St.  Paul  in  the  States,  where  we  joined  the  ordinary 
train  for  Chicago.  I  think  that  it  was  at  St.  Paul  that 
we  had  our  first  aggravating  experience  of  American 
independence,  which  contrasted  with  the  courtesy  of 
Japan.  A  number  of  passengers  had  some  twenty-five 
minutes  to  secure  luncheon  (or  dinner,  I  forget  which) 
before  the  departure  of  the  next  train.  Unfortunately 
they  depended  almost  entirely  on  the  ministrations  of 
a  tall  and  gaily  attired  young  woman ;  still  more  un- 
fortunately one  or  two  of  them  rashly  requested  her 
to  make  haste.  Her  vengeance  was  tranquil  but  sure. 
She  slowly  and  deliberately  walked  round,  placing  a 
glass  of  iced  water  near  each  guest.  It  was  hot  enough 
to  render  iced  water  acceptable,  but  not  to  the  exclusion 
of  other  food. 

We  included  Chicago  in  our  wanderings  for  the  pur- 
pose of  seeing  the  great  Exhibition  which  was  by  way 
of  celebrating  the  fourth  centenary  of  Columbus's  dis- 
covery of  America.  A  schoolboy  once  described  the 
life  and  exploits  of  Columbus  to  this  effect :  "  Colum- 


COLmiBUS    DISCOVERS    AMERICA  349 

bus  was  a  man  who  could  make  an  egg  stand  on  end 
without  breaking  it.  He  landed  in  America  and  saw  a 
Chief  and  a  party  of  men  and  said  to  them,  '  Are  you 
the  savages  ?  '  '  Yes,'  said  the  Chief ;  '  are  you  Colum- 
bus ?  '  '  Yes,'  said  Columbus.  Then  the  Chief  turned 
to  his  men  and  said,  '  It's  of  no  use  ;  w^e're  discovered 
at  last.'  "  Whether  Columbus  would  have  taken  the 
trouble  to  discover  America  if  he  could  have  seen  in  a 
vision  New  York,  Niagara,  and  a  few  other  phenomena 
I  know  not,  but  I  am  sure  he  would  have  never  gone  out 
of  his  way  to  discover  Chicago. 

My  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Rowland  Leigh,  has  told  me 
that  her  grandfather  sold  a  great  part  of  the  land  on 
which  Chicago  now  stands  for  a  pony  for  her  grand- 
mother to  ride  upon.  With  all  due  respect  he  made  a 
great  mistake  in  facilitating  the  erection  of  this  over- 
grown, bumptious,  and  obtrusive  city.  It  may  have 
improved  in  the  past  thirty  years,  but  I  can  conceive 
of  no  way  in  which  it  could  have  become  attractive. 

It  was  horribly  hot  when  we  arrived,  but  a  chilling 
and  unhealthy  wind  blew  from  Lake  Michigan,  on  which 
it  stands,  which  gave  us  all  chest  colds,  and  we  heard 
that  these  were  prevalent  throughout  the  city.  Then 
the  streets  were  badly  laid  and  dirty.  I  think  that  the 
inhabitants  burnt  some  peculiar  kind  of  smoky  fuel. 
They  were  very  proud  of  this  Exhibition,  which  looked 
well,  on  the  lines  of  the  White  City  at  Shepherd's  Bush. 
It  was  made  of  Phormiiim  tenax  (New  Zealand  flax) 
plastered  over  with  white  composition,  and  as  it  stood 
near  some  part  of  the  Lake  which  had  been  arranged  to 
accommodate  it  the  white  buildings  reflected  in  the 
blue  water  had  a  picturesque  effect.  The  only  part  of 
the  interior  which  really  impressed  me  was  a  building 
(not    white)    representing    the    old    monastery    where 


350  JOURNEY   HOME  [oh.  xv 

Columbus  had  lived  for  some  time  in  Spain.  This  was 
filled  with  a  very  interesting  loan  collection  of  objects 
connected  with  his  life  and  times. 

The  citizens  of  Chicago  had  invited  a  large  variety  of 
crowned  heads  and  princely  personages  to  attend  the 
Exhibition  as  their  guests,  but  previous  engagements  had 
been  more  prevalent  than  acceptances.  They  had 
succeeded  in  securing  a  Spanish  Duke  who  was  a  lineal 
descendant  of  Columbus,  and  he  and  his  family  had 
been  the  prominent  features  of  their  ceremonies  to 
date.  Shortly  before  we  came  great  excitement  had 
arisen  because  it  was  announced  that  the  Infanta 
Eulalia,  aunt  of  the  King  of  Spain,  and  a  real  genuine 
Princess,  would  honour  the  city  and  Exhibition  with 
her  royal  presence.  Two  problems  had  thereupon  to 
be  solved.  What  would  they  do  with  the  Duke  ? 
They  no  longer  wanted  a  minor  luminary  when  a  star  of 
the  first  magnitude  was  about  to  dawn  above  their 
horizon.  That  was  promptly  settled.  They  put  the 
poor  grandee  into  a  train  for  New  York  on  a  Friday  and 
told  him  that  they  would  continue  to  frank  him  until 
the  Monday,  after  which  date  he  would  be  "on  his 
own.''  He  was  said  to  have  declared  himself  highly 
satisfied  with  the  arrangement,  as  this  would  leave  him 
free  to  enjoy  himself  after  his  own  fashion  during  the 
remainder  of  his  sojourn  in  America.  I  only  hope 
that  they  had  paid  his  return  tickets  by  steamboat,  but 
I  never  heard  how  that  was  managed. 

The  Duke  being  thus  disposed  of,  problem  two  re- 
quired far  more  serious  consideration.  The  Mayor  of 
Chicago  was  a  "  man  of  the  people  "  and  had  never 
condescended  to  wear  a  tall  hat,  in  fact  he  had  such  a 
bush  of  hair  that  he  could  not  have  got  one  on  to  his 
head  ;  and  as  a  sort  of  socialist  Samson  whose  political 


THE    MAYOR    CITTS    HIS    HAIR  351 

strength  lay  in  his  locks,  he  had  steadily  declined  to  cut 
it.  So  day  by  day  the  Chicago  papers  came  out  with  : 
"  "Will  H.  [I  forget  his  exact  name]  cut  his  hair  ?  " 
"  Will  he  wear  a  tall  hat  ?  "  And  when  the  great  day 
came  and  the  Infanta  was  met  at  the  station  by  the 
Conscript  Fathers,  a  p<Tan  of  joy  found  voice  in  print  : 
"  He  wore  a  tall  hat,"  "  He  has  cut  his  hair."  I 
cannot  say  whether  the  pillars  of  the  municipal  house 
fell  upon  him  at  the  next  election. 

I  do  not  feel  sure  of  the  official  designation  of  the 
sturdy  citizens  who  ultimately  received  the  Infanta, 
They  may  have  constituted  tlie  Municipality  or  the 
Council  of  the  Exhibition,  very  likely  both  combined. 
One  thing,  however,  is  certain  :  no  Princess  of  Romance 
was  more  jealously  guarded  by  father,  enchanter,  giant, 
or  dwarf  than  Eulalia  by  her  Chicago  hosts.  The 
first  knight-errant  to  meet  his  fate  was  our  old  Athens 
friend,  Mr.  Fearn,  He  was  Head  of  the  Foreign  Section 
of  the  Exhibition,  a  highly  cultured  man,  had  held  a 
diplomatic  post  in  Spain,  where  he  had  known  the 
Infanta,  and  could  speak  Spanish,  When  he  heard 
that  she  was  coming  he  engaged  sixteen  rooms  at  the 
Virginia  Hot-el  (where  we  were  staying)  and  arranged 
to  give  her  a  reception.  Could  this  be  allowed  ?  Oh,  no  ! 
Mr.  Fearn  could  converse  with  her  in  her  own  tongue  and 
no  one  else  would  be  able  to  understand  what  was  said 
— the  party  had  to  be  cancelled. 

Then  H.R.II.  was  to  visit  the  Foreign  Section,  and 
Mr,  Fearn,  who  naturally  expected  to  be  on  duty,  in- 
vited various  friends,  including  ourselves,  to  be  present 
in  the  Gallery  of  the  rather  fine  Entrance  Hall,  Mr. 
Fearn,  Hoad  of  the  Section,  to  receive  the  Princess  on 
arrival  ?  Not  at  all  -why,  she  might  tliink  that  he 
was  the  most  important  person  present,     Mr,   Fearn 


352  JOURNEY   HOME  [ch.  xv 

might  hide  where  he  pleased,  but  was  to  form  no  part 
of  the  Reception  Committee. 

They  wanted  to  take  away  his  Gallery,  but  there  he 
put  his  foot  down.  His  friends  were  coming  and  must 
have  their  seats.  So  he  sat  with  us  and  we  watched 
the  proceedings  from  above.  I  must  say  that  they 
were  singularly  unimpressive.  The  Infanta  arrived 
escorted  by  some  big,  uncomfortable-looking  men, 
while  a  few  little  girls  strewed  a  few  small  flowers 
on  the  pavement  in  front  of  her.  I  heard  afterwards 
that  H.R.H.,  who  was  distinctly  a  lady  of  spirit,  was 
thoroughly  bored  with  her  escort,  and  instead  of  spend- 
ing the  hours  which  they  would  have  desired  in  gazing 
on  tinned  pork,  jam-pots,  and  machinery,  insisted  on 
disporting  herself  in  a  kind  of  fair  called,  I  think,  the 
Midway  Pleasance,  where  there  were  rows  of  little 
shops  and  a  beer-garden.  She  forced  her  cortege  to 
accompany  her  into  the  latter  and  to  sit  down  and  drink 
beer  there.     They  were  duly  scandalised,  but  could  not 

protest.     The  Infanta  was  put  up  at  the  P Hotel 

owned  by  a  couple  of  the  same  name.  The  husband  had 
avowedly  risen  from  the  ranks,  and  the  wife,  being  very 
pretty  and  having  great  social  aspirations,  had  left  Mr. 
P.  at  home  when  she  journeyed  to  Europe.  They 
were  very  rich  and  had  a  house  in  Chicago  in  the  most 
fashionable  quarter  on  the  shores  of  the  Lake,  and 
gave  a  great  party  for  the  Princess  to  which  were 
bidden  all  the  elite  of  the  city. 

It  appeared,  however,  that  the  royal  guest  did  not 
discover  till  just  as  she  was  setting  forth  that  her  hosts 
were  identical  with  her  innkeepers,  and  the  blue  blood 
of  Spain  did  not  at  all  approve  the  combination.  It 
was  too  late  to  back  out  of  the  engagement,  but  her 
attitude  at  the  party  induced  rather  a  frost,  and  her 


THE    PAGEANT    "AMERICA"  353 

temper  was  not  improved  by  the  fact  that  a  cup  of 
coffee  was  upset  over  her  gown. 

I  cannot  say  that  I  saw  this,  for,  though  we  received 
a  card  for  the  entertainment,  it  came  so  late  that  we 
did  not  feel  called  upon  to  make  an  effort  to  attend. 
The  lady's  sense  of  humour,  however,  was  quite  suffi- 
cient to  enable  her  to  see  the  quaint  side  of  her  recep- 
tion generally,  in  fact  I  chanced  to  hear  when  back  in 
England  that  she  had  given  to  some  of  our  royal  family 
much  the  same  account  that  is  here  recorded.  It  is 
not  to  be  assumed,  nevertheless,  that  Chicago  Society 
does  not  include  charming  and  kindly  people.  Among 
the  most  prominent  were,  and  doubtless  are,  the  Mc- 
Cormicks,  some  of  whom  we  had  known  in  London,  and 
who  exerted  themselves  to  show  us  hospitality.  Mrs. 
McCormick,  head  of  the  clan,  gave  us  a  noble  luncheon, 
previous  to  which  we  were  introduced  to  about  thirty 
McCormicks  by  birth  or  marriage.  "  I  guess  you've 
got  right  round,"  said  one  when  we  had  shaken  hands 
with  them  all.  Mrs.  McCormick  Goodhart  took  us  to 
see  a  great  spectacle  called  **  America/'  arranged  at  a 
large  theatre  by  Imre  Kiralfy,  subsequently  of  White 
City  fame. 

The  colour  scheme  was  excellent.  The  historical 
scenes  presented  might  be  called  eclectic.  The  Dis- 
covery of  America  was  conducted  by  a  page  in  white 
satin  who  stood  on  the  prow  of  Columbus's  ship  and 
pointed  with  his  hand  to  the  shore.  Behind  him  in 
the  vessel  were  grouped  men-at-arms  whose  gold 
helmets  were  quite  untarnished  by  sea-spray.  Perhaps 
they  had  been  kept  in  air-tight  boxes  till  the  Discovery 
was  imminent  and  then  brought  out  to  do  honour  to 
the  occasion.  The  next  scene  which  I  recollect  was  the 
arrival  of    the  Pilgrim   Fathers  in  an  Indian   village. 


354  JOURNEY   HOME  [oh.  xv 

The  Fathers,  in  square-cut  coats  and  Puritan  headgear, 
stood  round  the  village  green,  and  did  not  turn  a  hair, 
while  young  women  danced  a  ballet  in  front  of  them. 
After  all,  I  saw  a  ballet  danced  in  after  years  at  the 
Church  Pageant  at  Fulham,  so  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  should  not  have  enjoyed  one 
when  it  came  their  way.  The  final  climax,  however, 
was  a  grand  agricultural  spectacle  with  a  great  dance 
of  young  persons  with  reaping-hooks.  This  was  a  just 
tribute  to  the  McCormick  family,  who  were  the  great 
manufacturers  of  agricultural  implements  and  thereby 
promoted  the  prosperity  of  Chicago. 

On  leaving  Chicago  we  wended  our  way  to  Niagara. 
I  am  free  to  confess  that  we  had  seen  so  much  grandeur 
and  beauty,  and  particularly  such  picturesque  water- 
falls, in  Japan,  that  we  did  not  approach  any  scene  in 
the  New  World  with  the  thrill  of  expectation  which 
we  might  have  nursed  had  we  come  fresh  from  more 
prosaic  surroundings,  but  Niagara  swept  away  any 
vestige  of  indifierence  or  sight-weariness.  It  is  not  for 
me  to  describe  it.  I  can  only  say  that  we  were  awe- 
struck by  the  unending  waters  rushing  with  their 
mighty  volume  between  the  rocks  and  beneath  the  sun. 
When  we  sometimes  tried  to  select  the  sights  which 
we  had  seen  most  worthy  of  inclusion  in  the  Nine 
Wonders  of  the  World,  neither  my  husband  nor  I  ever 
hesitated  to  place  Niagara  among  the  foremost. 

At  New  York  we  stayed  two  or  three  nights  waiting 
for  our  ship.  It  was  very  hot,  and  most  of  our  American 
friends  away  at  the  seaside  or  in  the  country.  My 
chief  impressions  were  that  the  waiting  at  the  otherwise 
comfortable  Waldorf  Hotel  was  the  slowest  I  had  ever 
come  across  ;  and  that  the  amount  of  things  "  ver- 
boten  "  in  the  Central  Park  was  worthy  of  Berlin.     In 


BACK    AT    OSTERLEY  355 

one  place  you  might  not  drive,  in  another  you  might 
not  ride,  in  a  third  mounted  police  were  prepared  to 
arrest  you  if  you  tried  to  walk.  Really,  except  in  war- 
time, England  is  the  one  place  where  you  can  do  as  you 
like.  However,  I  am  sure  that  New  York  had  many 
charms  if  we  had  had  time  and  opportunity  to  find 
them  out. 

We  sailed  in  the  ^\^lite  Star  ship  Majestic,  and  after 
a  pleasant  crossing  reached  England  towards  the  end 
of  June  1893.  The  country  was  terribly  burnt  up 
after  a  hot  and  dry  spell,  but  we  were  very  happy  to  be 
at  home  again,  and  to  find  our  friends  and  relations 
awaiting  us  at  Euston. 

My  daughter  was  just  in  time  for  two  or  three  balls 
at  the  end  of  the  London  season,  the  first  being  at 
Bridge  water  House.  She  and  I  were  both  delighted 
to  fimd  that  our  friends  had  not  forgotten  us,  and  that 
she  had  no  lack  of  partners  on  her  somewhat  belated 
"  coming  out."  We  were  also  in  time  to  welcome  our 
friends  at  a  garden  party  at  Osterley,  and  to  entertain 
some  of  them  from  Saturdays  to  Mondays  in  July. 

Then  began  many  pleasant  summers  when  friends 
young  and  old  came  to  our  garden  parties,  and  also  to 
spend  Sundays  with  us  at  Osterley,  or  to  stay  with  us  in 
the  autumn  and  winter  at  Middleton.  Looking  back 
at  their  names  in  our  Visitors'  Book,  it  is  at  once  sad 
to  feel  how  many  have  passed  away  and  consoling  to 
think  of  the  happy  days  in  which  they  shared,  and 
particularly  to  remember  how  some,  now  married  and 
proud  parents  of  children,  found  their  fate  in  the  gardens 
at  Osterley  or  in  the  boat  on  the  Lake. 

It  would  be  diflicult  to  say  much  of  individuals,  but 
I  could  not  omit  recording  tliat  among  our  best  and 
dearest    friends    were    Lord    and    Lady    Northcote.     1 


356  ROME  [CH.  xv 

find  their  names  first  in  the  list  of  those  who  stayed 
with  us  July  lst-3rd,  1893,  and  their  friendship  never 
failed  us — his  lasted  till  death  and  hers  is  with  me  still. 

Before,  however,  I  attempt  any  reminiscences  of  our 
special  friends,  I  would  mention  yet  two  more  expedi- 
tions which  had  incidents  of  some  interest. 

In  1895  Lady  Galloway  and  I  were  again  in  Rome, 
and  I  believe  that  it  was  on  this  occasion  that  we  were 
received  by  Queen  Margaret,  whose  husband  King 
Umberto  was  still  alive.  She  was  a  charming  and 
beautiful  woman  with  masses  of  auburn  hair.  She 
spoke  English  perfectly  and  told  us  how  much  she 
admired  English  literature,  but  I  was  rather  amused  by 
her  expressing  particular  preference  for  The  Strand 
Magazine — quite  comprehensible  really,  as  even  when 
one  knows  a  foreign  tongue  fairly  well,  it  is  always 
easier  to  read  short  stories  and  articles  in  it  than  pro- 
founder  works.  She  also  liked  much  of  Rudyard 
Kipling,  but  found  some  of  his  writings  too  difiicult. 
Later  on  1  sent  Her  Majesty  the  "  Recessional,"  and 
her  lady-in-waiting  wrote  to  say  that  she  had  read  and 
re-read  the  beautiful  verses. 

A  former  Italian  Ambassador  told  me  that  when  the 
present  King  was  still  quite  young  some  members  of 
the  Government  wanted  him  removed  from  the  care  of 
women  and  his  education  confided  to  men.  The 
Queen,  however,  said,  "  Leave  him  to  me,  and  I  will 
make  a  man  of  him."  "  And,"  added  my  informant, 
"  she  did  !  " 

Later  in  the  year  my  husband  engaged  a  dahabyah, 
the  Herodotuff,  to  take  us  up  the  Nile,  and  we  left  England 
on  January  22nd,  1896,  to  join  it.  Margaret  and  Mary 
went  with  us,  and  we  sailed  from  Marseilles  for  Alexan- 
dria in  the  Senegal,  a  Messageries  boat  which  was  one 


THE  DAHABYAH  "HERODOTUS"     367 

of  the  most  wretched  old  tubs  that  I  have  ever  en- 
countered. How  it  contrived  to  reach  Alexandria  in 
a  storm  was  a  mystery,  the  solution  of  which  reflects 
great  credit  on  its  captain.  We  had  a  peculiar  lady 
among  our  fellow-passengers,  who,  when  Columbus  was 
mentioned,  remarked  that  he  was  the  man  who  went  to 
sea  in  a  sack.  Yve  believe  that  she  confused  him  with 
Monte  Cristo. 

Anyhow  we  reached  Cairo  at  last,  where  we  were 
joined  by  Lady  Galloway,  who  had  been  staying  with 
Lord  and  Lady  Cromer  at  the  Agency,  and  we  joined  our 
dahabyah — a  very  comfortable  one — at  Gingeh  on 
February  4th.  As  we  had  a  steam-tug  attached,  we 
were  happily  independent  of  wind  and  current,  and 
could  stop  when  we  pleased — no  small  consideration. 
We  realised  this  when,  reaching  Luxor  three  days 
later,  we  met  with  friends  who  had  been  toiling  up- 
stream for  a  month,  unable  to  visit  any  antiquities  on 
the  way,  as  whenever  they  wanted  to  do  so  the  wind, 
or  other  phenomena,  became  favourable  to  progress. 
I  ought  not  to  omit  having  met  Nubar  Pasha,  the 
Egyptian  statesman,  at  Cairo,  a  dear  old  man,  with  a 
high  esteem  for  the  English,  who,  he  said,  had  a  great 
respect  for  themselves,  and  for  public  opinion.  At  first 
sight  those  two  sentiments  seem  not  altogether  compa- 
tible, but  on  thinking  over  his  remark  one  perceives 
how  they  balance  each  other. 

At  El  Ballianeh,  another  stopping-place  on  our 
voyage  to  Luxor,  we  found  the  town  decorated  in  honour 
of  the  Khedive's  lately  married  sister,  who  was  making 
an  expedition  up  the  Nile.  Her  husband,  having 
modern  tendencies,  was  anxious  that  she  should  ride 
like  the  English  ladies,  and  had  ordered  a  riding- habit 
for  her,  but  only  one  boot,  as  he  only  saw  one  of  the 
24 


358  THE    NILE  [oh.  xv 

Englishwomen's   feet.     Had   lie   lived   in   the   present 
year  of  grace  his  vision  would  not  have  been  so  limited. 
Near  Karnak,  E.  F.  Benson  and  his  sister  were  busy 
excavating  the  Temple  of  Mant.     Miss  Benson  had  a 
concession  and  excavated  many  treasures,   while  her 
brother  no  doubt  drew  out  of  the  desert  his  inspiration 
for  The  Image  in  the  Sand,  published  some  years  later. 
In   pre-war  days  we  used  to  say  that  the  Nile  was 
like   Piccadilly   and   Luxor   resembled   the   Bachelors' 
Club,  so  many  friends  and  acquaintances  passed  up  and 
down  the  river,  but  on  this  particular  voyage  the  aspect 
which  most  impressed  my  husband  and  myself  was  the 
dominating  influence  of  the   Sirdar,   Lord   Kitchener. 
We  only  saw  him  personally  for  a  few  minutes,  as  he 
was  with  his  staff  on  a  tour  of  inspection,  but  wherever 
we  met  ofiicers  of  any  description  there  was  an  alertness, 
and  a  constant  reference  to   "  The   Sirdar  \"     "  The 
Sirdar  has  ordered,''  "  The  Sirdar  wishes."     A  state  of 
tension  was  quite  evident,  and  soon  proved  to  be  justi- 
fied. 

No  one  quite  knew  when  and  where  the  Mahdi  would 
attack,  everybody  was  on  the  look-out  for  hidden 
Dervishes.  At  Assouan  we  had  luncheon  with  the 
officers  stationed  there,  Major  Jackson  (now  Sir  Herbert) 
and  others,  who  were  most  hospitable  and  amusing.  I 
must  confess  that  though  they  were  more  than  ready 
for  the  Dervishes,  they  were  specially  hot  against  the 
French.  Of  course  at  that  time  the  feeling  on  both 
sides  was  very  bitter  ;  it  was  long  before  the  days  of  the 
entente,  and  any  French  officer  who  made  friends  with 
an  Englishman  had  a  very  bad  mark  put  against  his 
name  by  his  superiors. 

Either  at  Assouan  or  Philse,  where  Captain  Lyons 
entertained  us,  we  heard  a  comical  story  of  a  tall  English- 


ESCAPE    OF    SLATIX    PASHA  359 

man  in  a  cafe  at  Cairo.  He  was  alone,  and  three  or 
four  French  ofBcers  who  were  sitting  at  a  little  table 
began  to  make  insulting  remarks  about  the  English. 
This  man  kept  silent  until  one  of  them  put  out  his  foot 
as  he  passed,  plainly  intending  to  trip  him  up.  There- 
upon he  seized  his  assailant  and  used  him  as  a  kind  of 
cudgel  or  flail  wherewith  to  belabour  his  companions. 
Naturally  the  others  jumped  up  and  attacked  in  their 
turn,  and  the  Englishman,  outnumbered,  must  have  had 
the  worst  of  it  had  not  the  girl  behind  the  counter 
suddenly  taken  his  part  and  aimed  a  well-directed 
shower  of  empty  bottles  at  the  Frenchmen,  who  there- 
upon found  discretion  the  better  part  of  valour  and 
retreated. 

Major  Jackson  gave  us  a  graphic  account  of  the  arrival 
of  Slatin  Pasha  after  his  escape  from  Omdurman  after 
eleven  years'  captivity.  He  said  that  a  dirty  little 
Arab  merchant  arrived  at  his  quarters  claiming  to  be 
Slatin  Pasha.  He  knew  that  Slatin  had  been  prisoner, 
but  did  not  know  of  his  escape,  and  felt  doubtful  of  his 
identity.  "  However,"  said  he,  "  I  put  him  into  a 
bedroom  and  gave  him  some  clothes  and  a  cake  of 
Sunlight  Soap,  and  there  came  out  a  neat  little  Austrian 
gentleman."  I  have  always  thought  what  a  large 
bakshish  Major  Jackson  might  liave  received  from  the 
proprietor  of  Sunlight  Soap  had  he  given  them  that 
tale  for  publication.  I  believe  that  Major  Burnaby 
had  £100  for  mentioning  the  efYect  of  Cockle's  Pills  on 
some  native  chief  in  his  Ride  Uj  Khiva.  However, 
Slatin  managed  to  convince  his  hosts  that  he  was  him- 
self, despite  that  he  had  almost  forgotten  European 
customs  and  languages  during  his  long  slavery.  At 
Assouan  we  were  obliged  to  abandon  our  nice  dahabyah 
and  transfer  ourselves  to  u  shaky  and  hot  stcrn-wheeler 


360  THE    NILE  [ch.  xv 

called  the  Tanjore,  as  the  large  dahabyah  could  not 
travel  above  the  First  Cataract  and  we  wanted  to  go  to 
Wady  Haifa.  There  was  some  doubt  as  to  whether  we 
could  go  at  all,  and  the  stern- wheeler  had  to  form  one  of 
a  fleet  of  four  which  were  bound  to  keep  together  and 
each  to  carry  an  escort  of  six  or  seven  Soudanese  soldiers 
for  protection.  What  would  have  happened  had  a 
strong  force  of  dervishes  attacked  us  I  do  not  know, 
but  fortunately  we  were  unmolested.  Of  the  other 
three  stern-wheelers  one  was  taken  by  the  Bradley 
Martins,  Cravens,  and  Mrs.  Sherman,  and  the  other 
two  were  public. 

We  had  an  object-lesson  on  the  advantages  of  a 
reputation  for  being  unamiable.  On  board  one  of  the 
public  stern- wheelers  was  a  certain  F.  H.,  author  and 
journalist,  with  his  wife  and  daughter.  Jersey  over- 
heard Cook's  representative  giving  special  injunctions 
to  the  agent  in  charge  of  this  boat  to  keep  F.  R.  in  good 
humour,  as  he  might  make  himself  very  disagreeable. 
Whether  he  did  anything  to  damage  the  firm  I  know 
not,  but  I  know  that  he  bored  his  fellow-passengers  so 
much  that  on  the  return  journey  they  either  transferred 
themselves  to  the  fourth  boat  or  waited  for  another, 
anything  rather  than  travel  back  with  the  R.'s.  So  the 
R.'s  secured  a  whole  stern- wheeler  to  themselves. 

I  have  carefully  refrained  from  any  description  of 
the  well-known  temples  and  tombs,  which  record  the 
past  glories  of  the  cities  of  the  Nile,  but  I  must  say  a 
word  of  the  wonderful  rock  temple  of  Rameses  II  at 
Abu  Simbal,  close  on  the  river  banks.  We  saw  it  by 
moonlight,  which  added  much  to  the  effect  of  the  great 
pylon  cut  in  the  rock  with  its  four  sitting  figures  of  the 
king,  each  66  feet  high.  Small  figures  stand  by  the 
knees  of  the  colossi,  who  look  solemnly  out  over  the 


HOW  A  KING  AND  AN  ARAB  EVADED  ORDERS  361 

river  unmoved  by  the  passing  centuries.  Inside  the 
rock  is  a  large  corridor  with  eight  great  Osiride  figures 
guarding  its  columns,  and  within  are  smaller  chambers 
with  sculptured  walls. 

I  would  also  recall  among  the  less  important  relics 
of  the  past  the  small  ruined  Temple  of  Dakkeh.  It 
was  built  in  Ptolemaic  times  by  an  Ethiopian  monarch 
singularly  free  from  superstition.  It  w^as  the  custom 
of  these  kings  to  kill  themselves  when  ordered  to  do  so 
by  the  priests  in  the  name  of  the  gods,  but  when  his 
spiritual  advisers  ventured  to  send  such  a  message  to 
King  Erzamenes,  he  went  with  his  soldiers  and  killed 
the  priests  instead. 

I  do  not  know  whether  the  story  lingered  on  the 
banks  of  the  Nile  till  our  times,  but  the  instinct  of  this 
king  seems  to  have  been  reincarnated  in  an  Arab,  or 
Egyptian,  soldier  w^ho  related  to  an  English  officer  his 
first  experience  of  an  aeroplane  during  the  late  war. 
This  man  was  enlisted  by  the  Turks  during  their  inva- 
sion of  Egypt  and  afterwards  captured  by  the  British. 
Said  he,  "I  saw  a  bird,  oh,  such  a  beautiful  bird,  flying 
in  the  sky.  My  officer  told  me  to  shoot  it,  but  I  did  not 
want  to  kill  that  beautiful  bird,  so  I  killed  my  officer." 
Certainly  if  one  wished  to  disobey  an  unreasonable 
order  it  was  the  simplest  method  of  escaping  punish- 
ment. 

At  Wady  Haifa  we  were  delightfully  entertained  at 
tea  and  dinner  by  Colonel  Hunter  (now  Sir  Archibald). 
Dinner  in  his  pretty  garden  was  indeed  a  pleasant 
change  from  our  jolting  stern-wheeler.  Previously  he 
took  us  to  see  the  500  camels — riding  and  baggage — of 
the  camel-corps.  All  were  absolutely  ready  for  action. 
T.ike  the  horses  of  Branksome  Hall  in  the  "  Lay  of  the 
Lust  Mijistrel,"  who  "  ready  and  wight  stooii  ftiiddlod 


362  THE    NILE  [ch.  xv 

in  stable  day  and  night,"  these  camels  lay  in  rows  with 
all  their  kit  on  or  near  them — nothing  to  be  done  when 
the  order  of  advance  should  be  given  except  to  fill 
their  water-flasks.  All  this  with  the  shadow  of  the 
Sirdar  pointing  towards  them — to  fall  even  sooner  than 
the  officers  perchance  anticipated. 

While  our  boat  waited  at  Wady  Haifa  we  made  a 
short  expedition,  two  hours  by  train  on  a  local  military 
railway,  to  Sarras,  which  was  then  the  Egyptian  fron- 
tier. Egyptian  officers  showed  us  the  Fort  on  a  hill 
with  two  Krupp  and  two  Maxim  guns.  There  were  one 
or  two  other  little  forts  on  heights,  and  below  was  the 
camp  with  tents,  huts,  camels,  and  horses.  From  the 
hill  we  looked  out  at  the  coimtry  beyond,  a  mass  of 
small  hills  rising  from  a  sandy  desert,  all  barren  and 
arid.  It  gave  a  weird  impression  to  stand  thus  on  the 
uttermost  outpost  of  civilisation  wondering  what  of 
death  and  terror  lay  beyond. 

Seven  years  previously,  in  July  1889,  Sir  Herbert 
Kitchener  (as  he  then  was)  had  written  to  my  husband 
from  the  Egyptian  Headquarters  at  Assouan,  and  thus 
described  the  Dervishes  : 

"  I  leave  for  the  South  to-morrow  and  shall  then  have 
an  opportimity  of  seeing  the  Dervish  camp.  It  is  most 
extraordinary  that  they  have  been  able  to  invade 
Egypt  in  the  way  they  have  done  without  any  supplies 
or  transport.  I  have  talked  to  numbers  of  prisoners 
and  they  say  they  are  just  as  fanatical  as  ever ;  their 
intention  is  to  march  on  Cairo,  killing  all  who  do  not 
accept  their  faith,  and  they  do  not  care  in  the  least  how 
many  lives  they  lose  in  the  attempt,  as  all  that  die  in 
their  belief  go  straight  to  heaven.  They  have  brought 
all  their  women  and  children  with  them,  and  seem  to 
have  no  feeling  whatever  for  the  sufferings  they  make 
them  undergo.  We  have  rescued  almost  thousands  and 
fed  and  clothed  them ;  they  oome  in  the  most  awful  state 


THE    DERVISHES  363 

of  emaciation.  I  expect  we  shall  have  a  fight  shortly 
with  the  strong  men  of  the  party  who  now  keep  all  the 
food  for  themselves,  leaving  the  women  and  children 
to  die  of  starvation." 

There  was  certainly  real  anxiety  about  them  even 
during  our  expedition,  and  it  was  thought  better  for 
our  stern-wheelers  to  anchor  in  the  middle  of  the  stream 
at  night,  when  far  from  barracks,  for  fear  of  attack.  I 
think,  however,  that  it  was  at  Assouan,  a  well-guarded 
centre,  that  the  Bradley  Martins  came  to  implore 
Jersey  to  come  and  reassure  poor  Mrs.  Sherman,  Mrs. 
Bradley  Martin's  kind  old  mother.  She  had  heard 
some  firing  in  connection  with  Hamadan,  and  told  her 
family  that  she  knew  that  their  dahabyah  had  been 
captured  by  dervishes  and  that  they  were  keeping  it 
from  her.  Why  she  thought  that  the  dervishes  were 
considerate  enough  to  keep  out  of  her  cabin  I  do  not 
know,  nor  why  she  consented  to  believe  my  husband 
and  not  her  own  children.  However,  it  is  not  uncommon 
for  people  to  attach  more  weight  to  the  opinion  of  an 
outsider  than  to  that  of  the  relatives  whom  they  see 
every  day. 

Before  returning  to  Cairo  we  tied  up  near  Helouan  and 
rode  there  along  a  good  road  with  trees  on  either  side. 
Helouan  itself  struck  us  as  resembling  the  modern 
part  of  a  Riviera  town  pitched  in  the  desert.  Neither 
trees  nor  verandahs  mitigated  the  glare  of  the  sun, 
unless  a  few  clumps  near  the  sulphur  baths  did  duty 
as  shade  for  the  whole  place.  There  were  numerous 
hotels  and  boarding-houses,  though  I  recorded  the 
opinion,  which  I  saw  no  reason  to  modify  on  a  visit 
some  years  later,  that  there  seemed  no  particular 
reason  for  people  to  go  there  unless  preparatory  to 
committing    suicide.     However.    I    suppose    that    the 


364  THE    NILE  [ch.  xv 

Eaces  and  the  Baths  constituted  the  attraction,  and  it 
may  have  become  more  adapted  to  a  semi-tropical 
climate  since  we  saw  it. 

Before  we  said  farewell  to  the  Herodotus  the  crew  gave 
us  a  *'  musical  and  dramatic ''  entertainment.  The 
comic  part  was  largely  supplied  by  the  cook's  boy,  who 
represented  a  European  clad  in  a  remarkably  battered 
suit  and  ordered  about  a  luckless  native  workman.  The 
great  joke  was  repeatedly  to  offer  him  as  a  seat  the 
ship's  mallet  (with  which  posts  for  tying  up  were  driven 
into  the  bank)  and  to  withdraw  it  the  moment  he  tried 
to  sit  down.  His  face,  and  subsequent  flogging  of  the 
joker,  were  hailed  with  shrieks  of  laughter.  Similar 
pranks  interspersed  with  singing,  dancing,  and  tam- 
bourine playing  were  witnessed  by  an  appreciative 
audience,  including  eight  or  ten  native  friends  of  the 
sailors,  who  were  supplied  with  cofiee  and  cigarettes. 

On  March  12th  we  reached  Cairo  and,  with  regret, 
left  our  comfortable  dahabyah  for  the  Ghezireh  Palace 
Hotel.  On  the  14th  came  the  rumour  that  orders  had 
come  from  England  that  troops  should  advance  on 
Dongola.  There  was  the  more  excitement  as  it  was 
asserted,  and  I  believe  truly,  that  the  Government  had 
taken  this  decisive  step  without  previous  consultation 
with  either  Lord  Cromer  or  the  Sirdar.  However,  all 
was  ready,  and  the  climax  came  when  in  September 
1898  the  Dervishes  were  defeated  by  Sir  Herbert  Kit- 
chener, the  Mahdi  slain,  and  Gordon  avenged. 

On  October  7th  of  that  year  Sir  Herbert  wrote  from 
Cairo,  in  answer  to  my  congratulations  : 

"  I  am  indeed  thankful  all  went  off  without  a  hitch. 

I  see  the says  we  kill  all  the  wounded,  but  when 

I  left  Omdurman  there  were  between  six  and  seven 
thousand  wounded  dervishes  in  hospital  there.     The 


LORD    KITCHENER  365 

work  was  so  hard  on  the  Doctors  that  I  had  to  call  on 
the  released  Egyptian  doctors  from  prison  to  help  ; 
two  of  them  were  well  educated,  had  diplomas,  and  were 
and  are  very  useful.  We  ran  out  of  bandages  and  had 
to  use  our  first  field  dressing  which  every  man  carries 
with  him." 

Plow  unjust  were  newspaper  attacks  on  a  man  un- 
failingly humane  !  Kitchener's  reception  in  England 
towards  the  end  of  the  year  was  a  wild  triumph — more 
than  he  appreciated,  for  he  complained  to  me  of  the 
way  in  which  the  populace  mobbed  him  at  Charing 
Cross  Station  and  pulled  at  his  clothes.  I  remember  at 
Dover,  either  that  year  or  on  his  return  from  South 
Africa,  meeting  the  mistress  of  an  Elementary  School 
whom  I  knew  who  was  taking  her  scholars  to  see  him 
land  "  as  an  object  lesson,"  an  object  lesson  being  per- 
mitted in  school  hours.  The  children  might  certainly 
have  had  many  less  useful  lessons. 

Lord  Kitchener  (as  he  had  then  become)  spent  a 
Sunday  with  us  at  Osterley,  June  17 — 19th,  1899.  I 
well  recollect  a  conversation  which  I  had  with  him  on 
that  occasion.  He  expressed  his  dissatisfaction  at  his 
military  work  being  ended.  "  I  should  like  to  begin 
again  as  a  simple  captain  if  I  could  have  something 
fresh  to  do."  "  Why,"  said  I,  "  you  are  Governor- 
General  of  the  Soudan,  surely  there  is  great  work  to  do 
there."  No,  that  was  not  the  sort  of  job  he  wanted. 
"  Well,"  I  told  him,  "  you  need  not  worry  yourself, 
you  are  sure  to  be  wanted  soon  for  something  else." 

Little  did  he  think,  still  less  did  1,  that  exactly  six 
months  later,  on  December  18th,  orders  would  reach  him 
at  Khartum  U)  join  Lord  Roberts  as  Chief  of  the  Stall, 
in  South  Africa.  He  started  at  once,  and  met  his 
Commander-in-Chief  at  Gibraltur  on  27th.     Indeed  a 


366  LORD    KITCHENER  [ch.  xv 

fresh  and  stirring  act  in  the  drama  of  his  life  opened 
before  him.  Later  on,  when  he  had  succeeded  Lord 
Roberts  in  the  supreme  command,  he  wrote  (January 
1902)  thanking  me  for  a  little  diary  which  I  had  sent 
him,  and  continued  : 

"  We  are  all  still  hard  at  it,  and  I  really  think  the  end 
at  last  cannot  be  far  oS.  Still  in  this  enormous  country 
and  with  the  enemy  we  have  to  contend  with  there  is  no 
saying  how  long  some  roving  bands  may  not  continue 
in  the  field,  living  like  robbers  in  the  hills  and  making 
occasional  raids  that  are  difficult  to  meet. 

"  It  will  be  a  joyful  day  when  it  is  over,  but  however 
long  it  may  be  in  coming,  we  shall  all  stick  to  it. 

"  The  Boers  are  simply  senseless  idiots  to  go  on 
destroying  their  country." 

What  would  he  have  said  of  the  Irish  of  twenty 
years  later  ? 

After  his  return  from  South  Africa  I  was  much  amused 
by  the  account  he  gave  us  of  receiving  the  O.M.  medal 
from  King  Edward,  who  was  ill  at  the  time.  When  he 
arrived  at  Buckingham  Palace  he  was  taken  to  the 
King's  bedroom,  but  kept  waiting  behind  a  large  screen 
at  the  entrance  in  company  with  Queen  Alexandra,  who 
kept  exclaiming,  "  This  is  most  extraordinary  \  "  At 
last  they  were  admitted  to  the  royal  presence,  when 
the  King  drew  out  the  order  from  under  his  pillow.  The 
recipient  had  evidently  been  kept  waiting  while  some- 
body went  to  fetch  it. 

I  have  other  recollections  of  Lord  Kitchener  at 
Osterley,  though  I  cannot  exactly  date  them.  One 
Sunday  some  of  us  had  been  to  church,  and  on  our 
return  found  George  Peel  extended  in  a  garden  chair, 
looking  positively  white  with  anxiety.  He  confided 
to  us  that  Kitchener  and  M.  Jusserand  of  the  French 


IvITCHENER   AND    MRS.    BOTHA  367 

Embassy  had  been  marcliing  up  and  down  near  the 
Lake  at  the  bottom  of  the  garden  violently  discussing 
Egj'pt  and  Fashoda,  and  he  was  afraid  lest  the  English- 
man should  throw  the  Frenchman  into  the  Lake — which, 
considering  their  respective  sizes,  would  not  have  been 
difficult.  They  certainly  parted  friends,  and  Kitchener 
mentions  in  one  of  his  letters  :  "I  saw  Jusserand  in 
Paris,  but  he  said  nothing  to  me  about  his  engagement. 
I  must  write  to  him." 

Another  meeting  which  took  place  at  one  of  our  garden 
parties  was  with  Mrs.  Louis  Botha.  I  was  walking  with 
the  General  when  I  saw  her  coming  down  the  steps  from 
the  house.  He  and  I  went  forward  to  meet  her,  and 
it  was  really  touching  to  see  the  evident  pleasure  with 
which  she  responded  to  the  warm  greetings  of  her 
husband's  former  opponent.  She,  like  her  husband, 
knew  the  generous  nature  of  the  man. 

Lord  Kitchener  certainly  knew  what  he  wanted  even 
in  little  things,  but  even  he  could  not  always  get  it. 

Just  when  he  was  appointed  to  the  Mediterranean 
Command  (which  I  am  sure  that  he  had  no  intention 
of  taking  up)  he  came  down  to  see  us  one  afternoon, 
and  amused  himself  by  sorting  our  Chinese  from  our 
Japanese  china,  the  latter  kind  being  in  his  eyes  "  no 
good."  Tired  of  this,  he  suddenly  said,  "  Now,  let  us 
go  into  the  garden  and  pick  strawberries."  "  But," 
said  I,  "  there  are  no  strawberries  growing  out-of-doors 
in  May."  "  Oh,"  he  exclaimed,  "  I  thought  when 
we  came  to  Osterley  we  always  picked  strawberries." 
Fortunately  I  had  some  hot-house  ones  ready  at  tea. 

At  King  Edward's  Durbar  at  Delhi  Lord  Kitchener's 
camp  adjoined  that  of  the  Governor  of  Bombay,  Lord 
Northcotc,  with  whom  we  were  staying.  He  arrived  a 
day  or  two  after  we  did,  came  over  to  see  us,  and  took 


368  LORD    KITCHENER  [oh.  xv 

me  back  to  inspect  the  arrangements  of  his  camp,  in- 
cluding the  beautiful  plate  with  which  he  had  been  pre- 
sented. He  was  extremely  happy,  and  most  anxious 
to  make  me  avow  the  superiority  of  his  establish- 
ment to  ours,  which  I  would  not  admit.  At  last  in 
triumph  he  showed  me  a  fender-seat  and  said,  "  Any- 
how, Lady  Northcote  has  not  a  fender-seat.''  But  I 
finally  crushed  him  with,  "  No,  but  we  have  a  billiard- 
table  !  " 

I  must  allow  that  there  was  a  general  suspicion  that 
all  would  not  go  smoothly  between  two  such  master 
minds  as  his  and  the  Viceroy's.  Those  are  high  politics 
with  which  I  would  not  deal  beyond  saying  that  the 
impression  of  most  people  who  know  India  is  that  the 
power  ultimately  given  to  the  Commander-in-Chief  was 
well  as  long  as  Lord  Kitchener  held  it,  but  too  much  for 
a  weaker  successor  in  a  day  of  world-upheaval. 

The  last  time  I  saw  him  was  in  the  July  before  the  Great 
War,  when  he  came  down  to  tea,  and  talked  cheerfully 
of  all  he  was  doing  at  Broome  Park,  and  of  the  trees  he 
intended  to  plant,  and  how  I  must  come  over  from  Lady 
Northcote's  at  Eastwell  Park  and  see  his  improvements. 
He  certainly  then  had  no  idea  of  what  lay  before  him. 
In  a  last  letter  written  from  the  War  Office  (I  think  in 
1915,  but  it  is  only  dated  "  25th  ")  he  speaks  of  trying 
to  motor  down  some  evening,  but  naturally  never  had 
time. 

The  final  tragedy  ended  a  great  life,  but  he  had  done 
his  work. 


CHAPTER   XVI 

THE    DIAMOND    JUBILEE — INDIA — THE    PASSING    OF    THE 
GREAT    QUEEN 

I  REALISE  that  in  the  foregoing  pages  I  have  dwelt  more 
on  foreign  lands  than  on  our  own  country.  This  only 
means  that  they  offered  more  novelty,  not  that  England 
was  less  interesting  to  my  husband  and  myself. 

The  great  Lord  Shaftesbury  used  to  say  that  his  was 
a  generation  which  served  God  less  and  man  more.  I 
trust  that  only  the  latter  half  of  this  dictum  has  proved 
true,  but  certainly  throughout  Queen  Victoria's  reign 
men  and  women  seemed  increasingly  awake  to  their 
duty  to  their  fellows  and  particularly  to  children. 

Without  touching  on  well-known  philanthropic  move- 
ments, I  should  like  to  mention  one,  unostentatious 
but  typical  of  many  others — namely,  the  "  Children's 
Happy  Evenings  Association,"  founded  by  Miss  Ada 
Heather-Bigg  and  inspired  throughout  its  existence  by 
the  energy  of  her  sister.  Lady  Bland-Sutton.  This  was 
the  pioneer  Society  for  organised  play  in  the  Board,  now 
"  County,"  Schools.  It  owed  much  to  the  work  of  many 
of  my  friends,  and  was  specially  fortunate  in  the  per- 
sonal interest  of  its  patron,  now  Queen  Mary.  Though 
the  exigencies  of  the  new  Education  Act  compelled  it 
to  cea.se  its  voluntary  work  after  the  Great  War,  during 
thirty  years  it  brouglit  happiness  iiito  the  lives  of 
thousands  of  poor  children. 

30U 


370  THE    DIAMOND    JUBILEE  [ch.  xvi 

To  return  to  our  Osterley  experiences. 

We  had  one  specially  interesting  Sunday  in  June  1895. 
Among  others  staying  with  us  from  Saturday  to  Monday 
were  Lord  and  Lady  George  Hamilton  and  Sir  Stafford 
and  Lady  Northcote.  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour  came  down 
on  Sunday  to  dine  and  spend  the  night,  and  he  and  Lord 
George  were  busy  with  a  game  of  lawn  tennis  on  the 
garden  front  of  the  house.  Several  of  us  were  in  another 
part  of  the  grounds  under  the  cedars  overlooking  the 
Lake,  enjoying  the  fine  warm  afternoon. 

All  at  once  a  very  hot  and  dusty  figure  appeared 
through  the  little  gate  near  the  portico  and  re- 
vealed itself  as  Schomberg — commonly  called  "  Pom  " — 
McDonnell,  then  Lord  Salisbury's  Private  Secretary. 
I  went  to  meet  him,  offering  tea,  dinner,  or  whatever 
hospitality  he  preferred.  All  he  would  say  in  breath- 
less and  very  serious  tones  was,  "  Give  me  an  egg  beat 
up  in  brandy  and  find  me  Arthur  Balfour." 

The  desired  refreshment  and  the  statesman  were 
produced  in  due  course.  It  appeared  on  further  in- 
quiry that  Mr.  McDonnell  had  bicycled  from  Hatfield  to 
London  in  search  of  Mr.  Balfour,  and  not  finding  him 
in  Carlton  Gardens  had  pursued  him  to  Osterley.  Such 
were  the  exigencies  of  pre-motor  days.  The  interview 
over,  the  messenger  retreated  as  swiftly  as  he  had  come. 

We  were  not  allowed  to  know  the  message  till  next 
morning  when  the  papers  came  with  the  thrilling  an- 
nouncement, "  Resignation  of  the  Government  "  !  Mr. 
Balfour  said  to  me,  "  I  might  quite  well  have  told  you, 
but  Pom  was  so  very  determined  that  I  should  not.'' 

The  only  recipient  of  the  secret  was  Lord  George 
Hamilton. 

When  Mr.  Balfour  returned  to  the  lawn-tennis  ground 
he  said  very  quietly  to  Lord  George  between  the  sets, 


MR.   CHAMBERLAIN,   COLONIAL  SECRETARY      371 

"  The  Government  have  resigned  "  ;  and  then  continued 
his  game  as  if  nothing  had  happened. 

Lord  Rosebery's  Government  had  been  defeated  a 
few  days  previously  on  the  cordite  vote,  Sir  Henry 
Campbell-Bannennan  having  been  Secretary  of  State 
for  War.  Of  course  there  was  great  excitement.  Mr. 
St.  John  Brodrick  spent  the  next  Sunday  with  us,  and 
was  summoned  to  London  by  Lord  Salisbury  early  on 
the  Monday  morning,  when  he  was  offered,  and  accepted, 
the  post  of  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  War. 

There  w^as  a  prevalent  idea  that  Mr.  Chamberlain 
would  become  Secretary  of  State  for  War,  but  I  felt  sure 
that  he  would  obtain  the  Colonies,  knowing  what  a  deep 
interest  he  took  in  the  Overseas  Empire.  We  had  once 
had  a  long  conversation  about  it  at  a  dinner  at  Green- 
wich. When  the  appointment  was  made  I  wrote  to 
congratulate  him,  and  he  said  in  his  reply,  "  I  hope  I 
may  be  able  to  do  something  to  promote  the  closer 
union  of  our  Empire  "—a  hope  amply  fullilled. 

I  have  many  recollections  of  Mr.  Chamberlain  at 
Osterley.  He  was  a  charming  guest,  always  ready  to 
take  his  share  in  any  amusement  or  discussion.  It 
was  comical  to  see  him  on  one  occasion  making  his  way 
in  a  sort  of  trot  down  the  Gallery  with  a  serious  ex- 
pression on  his  face,  and  his  arm  extended  at  full 
length  holding  a  poker  towards  him,  which  the  game 
somehow  entailed  his  keeping  clear  of  his  nose. 

He  loved  to  sit  ou  the  platform  on  the  top  of  the 
double  flight  of  steps  leading  to  the  garden  after  dinner 
on  hot  nights,  smoking  and  talking.  J  remember  that 
he  told  us  a  good  ghost  story,  but  an)  sorry  that  I  ft)rget 
the  details.  The  last  time  I  saw  him  before  his  sad 
illness  I  sat  next  to  him  at  dinner  at  his  own 
house,     ilc   had    then    taken    ii[>    Prolcclic^n    (wlii(  h   i 


372  THE    DIAMOND    JUBILEE  [oh.  xvi 

always  wished  lie  had  called  "  Preference  ").  I  said  to 
him  :  "  You  know,  Mr.  Chamberlain,  I  am  a  Free 
Trader  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  '*  I  know,  but  you  will  give  an  old 
friend  credit  for  being  honest." 

"  Certainly,''  I  replied,  and  I  said  that  truthfully  with 
my  whole  heart. 

In  later  years  we  were  neighbours  at  Cannes,  as  we 
had  the  Villa  Luynes  for  four  seasons,  not  far  from  the 
Villa  Victoria  where  he  took  up  his  winter  abode. 
Everyone  bore  witness  to  Mrs.  Chamberlain's  devotion, 
and  it  was  splendid  to  see  how  she  encouraged  him,  and 
helped  him  to  retain  his  interest  in  the  outer  world  in 
which  he  could  no  longer  play  an  active  part. 

Queen  Victoria's  Diamond  Jubilee  in  1897  was  marked 
by  even  greater  enthusiasm  than  the  celebrations  of 
1887.  Ten  years  ot  that  life  of  devotion  to  her  Empire 
had  drawn  ever  closer  the  links  between  her  and  her 
people.  They  had  shared  with  her  yet  more  sorrows 
and  yet  more  joys,  especially  the  death  of  the  Duke 
of  Clarence,  the  marriage  of  our  present  King,  and 
the  births  of  our  Prince  of  Wales  and  the  Duke  of 
York. 

I  think  the  Prince  of  Wales  began  his  inroad  into  the 
hearts  of  the  populace  on  this  occasion.  When  the 
Queen  returned  from  her  triumphal  procession  to  St. 
PauFs  the  two  little  Princes  were  taken  out  on  to  a  bal- 
cony to  see  and  be  seen  by  the  throng  below.  The  infant 
Prince  Albert  danced  in  his  nurse's  arms,  but  Prince 
Edward,  or,  as  he  was  always  called.  Prince  David, 
solemnly  and  correctly  saluted  in  return  for  the  ringing 
cheers  with  which  he  was  greeted.  An  eye-witness 
recounted  at  the  time  that  still  the  spectators  cheered, 
and  again  and  again  the  boy  saluted,  till  at  length  as 


THE    QUEEN   AT   TEMPLE   BAR  373 

they  would  not  stop  he  evidently  felt  that  something 
more  was  required,  and  saluted  ivith  both  hands. 

We  had  an  exciting  time,  as  the  custom  has  always 
been  that  when  the  Lord  Mayor  receives  the  Sovereign 
at  Temple  Bar  he  should  await  his  or  her  arrival  at 
Child's  Bank,  which  is  No.  1  Fleet  Street.  We  accord- 
ingly went  there  with  our  family  and  particular  friends, 
including  my  father  and  mother.  My  father's  ancestor, 
Sir  Thomas  Leigh,  was  Lord  Mayor  when  Queen  Eliza- 
beth visited  the  city  on  her  accession  and  presented  it 
with  the  Pearl  Sword  ;  and  two  of  my  husband's  an- 
cestors, Sir  Francis  Child  and  his  son  bearing  the  same 
name,  who  were  Lords  Mayor  in  the  eighteenth  century, 
are  represented  in  their  portraits  at  Osterley  as  holding 
this  sword. 

The  Lord  Mayor  of  the  Diamond  Jubilee,  Sir  George 
Faudel-Phillips,  brought  this  same  sword  to  the  Bank 
and  showed  it  to  us,  realising  our  special  interest,  as  the 
representatives  of  both  our  families  had  had  charge  of 
the  sword  in  bygone  years,  and  were  present  to  see  it 
offered  to  Queen  Victoria. 

This  ceremony  took  place  exactly  opposite  the  Bank, 
and  was  certainly  a  trying  one  for  the  Lord  Mayor,  as 
he  had  to  offer  the  sword  to  her  ]\Iajesty,  receive  it 
back,  and  then  in  his  flowing  robes  leap  to  his  horse  and 
still  bearing  the  weapon  ride  before  her  carriage  to 
St.  Paul's. 

It  was  impossible  not  to  recall  pictures  uf  John 
Gilpin  when  one  saw  his  mantle  Hying  in  the  air,  but  1 
must  say  that  Sir  George  displayed  excellent  horseman- 
ship and  carried  through  his  part  without  a  hitch. 

I  never  saw  the  Queen  more  bi^aniiug  than  on  this 
occasion,  and  no  wonder,  fur  she  fully  realised  that  the 
wild  acclamations  of  the  people  came  straight  from 


374  THE    DIAMOND    JUBILEE  [ch.  xvi 

their  hearts.  When  we  were  again  at  Windsor  in  the 
following  May  I  ventured  to  hope  that  Her  Majesty  had 
not  been  overtired.  She  said,  "  No — not  on  the  day, 
but  when  the  celebrations  had  gone  on  for  a  month  she 
was  rather  tired. '* 

Rather  an  amusing  incident  occurred  during  the 
procession.  Lady  Northcote  and  her  father.  Lord 
Mount  Stephen,  were  among  our  guests  at  the  Bank. 
A  few  days  previously  Lady  Northcote  had  met  Lord 
Eoberts,  Sir  Donald  Stewart,  and  Sir  Redvers  Buller, 
and  had  said  jokingly  :  "  What  is  the  good  of  knowing 
Field  Marshals  if  they  do  not  salute  one  on  such  an 
occasion  ?  ''  As  a  result  all  three  saluted  her — Lord 
Roberts  in  particular  was  riding  at  the  head  of  the 
Colonial  and  Asiatic  troops  on  the  little  white  Arab 
horse  which  he  had  ridden  all  through  the  Afghan  War, 
and  all  the  time  when  he  was  Commander-in-Chief  in 
Madras  and  in  India.  The  horse  wore  the  Afghan 
medal  and  the  Kandahar  Star  given  him  by  Queen 
Victoria.  When  Lord  Roberts  was  opposite  Child's, 
he  duly  reined  his  charger  round  and  solemnly  saluted. 
An  evening  paper  gravely  asserted  that  he  had  saluted 
the  city  and  that  it  was  "  a  fine  thing  finely  done." 
It  was  finely  done,  but  the  salute  was  to  a  lady,  not  to 
the  city  ! 

In  the  following  year  our  eldest  daughter  Margaret 
married  Lord  Dynevor's  son,  Walter  Rice,  and  in  1899 
our  second  daughter  Mary  married  Lord  Longford. 
These  proved  the  happiest  possible  marriages,  and  our 
grandchildren  as  delightful  as  their  parents.  Both 
these  weddings  took  place  from  25  St.  James's  Place 
by  the  extreme  kindness  of  Lady  Northcote,  who 
provided  the  whole  of  the  entertainments,  including 
putting  us  all  up  for  the  two  occasions. 


THE   SOUTH   AFRICAN   WAR  375 

My  brother  Rowlaud  in  1S9S  married  in  America  the 
daughter  of  General  Gordon  of  Savannah,  who  was 
warmly  welcomed  in  our  family. 

In  March  1899  Lady  Northcote  and  I  had  a  short  but 
delightful  tour  in  Holland  and  Belgium. 

Soon  after  this  came  the  black  shadows  of  the  Afri- 
can War,  in  which  Longford  took  a  distinguished  part, 
serving  with  the  2nd  Life  Guards  and  with  the  Imperial 
Yeomanry,  and,  at  Lord  Robert's  desire,  raising  the 
Irish  Horse.  Though  he  was  wounded  at  Lindley  he 
returned  safely — but,  alas  !  in  the  European  War  he  was 
killed  at  Suvla  Bay — one  of  the  best  and  bravest  of  men. 

Lord  Northcote  having  been  appointed  Governor  of 
Bombay,  he  and  Lady  Northcote  left  England  early  in 
1900.  My  remaining  daughter  Beatrice  and  I  travelled 
with  them  as  far  as  Marseilles,  where  they  joined  their 
ship  and  we  went  on  to  North  Italy. 

The  war  was  still  raging  in  South  Africa  and  we  lived 
in  a  state  of  constant  anxiety.  W^hile  we  were  in 
Florence,  however,  the  news  came  of  the  relief  of 
Kimberley.  I  shall  always  recollect  the  arrival  of  a 
brief  telegram  to  the  effect  that  "  General  French  had 
ridden  into  Kimberley,"  quite  sufTicient  to  induce  total 
strangers  to  address  each  other  in  the  tea-shop,  which  was 
a  common  resort,  and  to  exchange  happy  speculations 
as  to  the  truth  of  the  news. 

In  Paris  on  our  way  back  we  had  the  further  tidings  of 
the  surrender  of  Cronje,  and  the  relief  of  Ladysmith, 
which  I  regret  to  say  did  not  improve  the  temper  of  the 
French  or  their  manners  towards  English  travellers — 
but  perhaps  all  this  is  better  now  forgotten.  We  had 
found  the  Italians  perfectly  amiable. 

One  great  dillcrence  between  the  lioer  War  and  that 
which  has  since  devastated  the  world  was  that  the  former 


376  INDIA  [CH.  XVI 

did  not  in  any  way  interfere  with  ocean  travel,  and  in 
the  autumn  following  the  departure  of  our  friends, 
Jersey,  Beatrice,  and  myself  set  off  again  to  join  them 
in  India.  They  were  on  tour  when  we  first  reached 
Bombay,  so  we  went  to  see  some  of  our  former  haunts 
and  a  few  places  which  we  had  not  previously  visited. 

I  have  already  written  so  much  of  India  that  I  will 
only  very  briefly  mention  some  incidents  which  particu- 
larly struck  me  on  this  occasion.  I  pass  over  the 
wonderful  Caves  of  Ellora,  for,  marvellous  as  they  are, 
they  are  fully  described  in  guide-books.  We  paid  a 
second  visit  to  Hyderabad,  and  it  was  curious  there  to 
note  the  strong  contrast  between  the  modern  education 
of  the  girls  of  the  higher  classes  and  the  conservative 
attitude  of  some  of  the  old  ladies. 

We  attended  a  large  dinner  given  by  the  Vikar,  or 
Prime  Minister,  who  was  married  to  the  Nizam's  sister, 
and  after  dinner  he  expressed  a  wish  that  I  should  pay 
a  visit  to  his  wife,  who  lived  in  a  palace  near  the  hall 
in  which  we  had  dined.  The  Resident's  wife  kindly 
accompanied  me,  though  she  had  not  hitherto  made  the 
lady's  acquaintance. 

It  was  the  weirdest  visit  I  ever  paid.  Darkness  had 
fallen,  and  we  were  received  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Palace  by  a  number  of  wild-looking  females  bearing 
torches  and  wrapped  in  red  saris.  They  reminded  me 
of  an  old  print  representing  a  beldame  with  a  flaming 
torch  at  the  Gate  of  Tartarus,  with  Cerberus  and  other 
monsters  in  the  background  :  rather  a  libel  on  the 
women,  who  were  doubtless  excellent  in  private  life, 
but  who  seemed  to  be  guarding  a  fatal  portal  on  this 
occasion.  They  conducted  us  to  a  vast,  dimly  lighted 
chamber  with  pillars  and  arches ;  which  might  have 
been  the  Hall  of  Eblis. 


INDIAN   rPvINCESSES  377 

What  was  happening  in  its  recesses  I  could  not  see, 
but  in  the  middle,  on  an  ordinary-looking  chair,  sat  the 
Princess,  her  destined  daughter-in-law  squatting  at  her 
feet  and  attendants  in  the  background.  She  was 
wrapped  in  a  gorgeous  green-and-gold  sari  and  covered 
with  jewels  on  neck,  arms,  and  ankles,  but  her  bare  feet 
projected  in  an  uncomfortable  manner  ;  she  looked  as 
if  a  cushion  on  the  floor  would  have  suited  her  much 
better  than  her  stiff  seat.  Near  her,  looking  singularly- 
incongruous,  stood  her  son,  and  a  stepson  whose  existence 
scandal  said  she  resented.  The  young  men  were  attired 
in  immaculate  European  dress-clothes,  and  might  had 
walked  out  of  the  Bachelors'  Club  except  that  they 
wore  on  their  heads  curious  mitre-shaped  hats  which 
indicated  their  connection  with  the  Nizam's  house. 
Tliey  both  spoke  English  perfectly.  Our  conversation 
with  the  lady  was  naturally  limited  to  translated  plati- 
tudes, but  I  was  interested  to  see  the  heroine,  who  was 
reckoned  very  clever  but  not  over-scrupulous. 

At  the  great  fortress  city  of  Gwalior  we  visited  very 
different  ladies — the  mother  and  wife  of  Scindia,  who 
received  us  in  pleasant  apartments,  well-furnished, 
light  and  airy.  Tlie  old  lady  might  have  been  an 
English  dowager — she  was  extremely  talkative  and  full 
of  her  son  the  Maharajah,  who  was  expected  back 
immediately  from  the  Boxer  War.  The  little  wife  was 
in  tlie  charge  of  an  English  governess  and  seemed 
anxious  to  remain  in  another  room  out  of  her  mother- 
in-law's  way.  She  was  about  eifrliteen,  and  was  much 
amused  at  the  height  of  my  daughter  wliu  was  iior 
contemporary.  Unfortunately  the  poor  young  thing  had 
no  child,  thougli  she  had  been  married  for  some  years. 
The  Maharajali  was  devoted  to  her  and  wanted  to 
avoid  a  second  marriage,  but  later  on  was  obliged  to 


378  INDIA  [CH.  XVI 

consent  to  taking  another  wife  with  a  view  to  providing 
an  heir. 

I  do  not  know  what  ceremonies  were  then  necessary, 
but  when  he  married  our  young  friend  certain  diffi- 
culties had  arisen.  The  wife  of  Scindia  had  to  be 
chosen  from  a  very  limited  caste,  and  the  only  eligible 
young  lady  at  the  moment  was  the  daughter  of  a  quite 
middle-class  family  somewhere  near  Bombay  or  Poona. 
Now  if  the  lady  had  been  his  equal  by  birth  it  would  have 
been  proper  for  the  Maharajah  to  ride  to  her  residence 
in  order  to  bring  her  home,  but  he  could  not  have  gone 
to  a  comparatively  humble  abode.  As  a  compromise 
he  had  to  ride  the  same  number  of  days  which  it  would 
have  taken  him  to  reach  his  bride,  but  it  was  arranged 
that  he  should  do  this  m  his  own  dominions,  sleeping 
each  night  at  the  house  of  one  of  his  Sirdars. 

At  Lahore  we  saw  the  College  for  young  Chiefs, 
modelled  as  far  as  possible  on  the  lines  of  an  English 
Public  School  and,  like  the  Mayo  College  at  Ajmere, 
intended  to  bring  up  a  manly  race  of  rulers  without  the 
risks  attendant  on  sending  them  to  England.  The 
majority  of  the  youths  whom  we  saw  were  Mohammedans 
or  Sikhs.  The  Mohammedans  would  mess  together, 
but,  though  the  Sikhs  are  by  way  of  disregarding  caste, 
in  practice  it  was  found  that  each  youth  preferred  to 
eat  in  private.  This  may  have  been  partly  a  question 
of  dignity,  as  these  young  northern  chiefs  came  attended 
with  personal  servants. 

Their  private  rooms,  with  occupant's  name  outside, 
were  not  unlike  those  of  Eton  boys,  and  each  contained 
a  little  illuminated  card  calling  attention  to  the  special 
observances  of  the  scholar's  own  faith,  and  saying  that 
the  Directors  of  the  College  were  anxious  that  the 
students  should  attend  to  their  religious  obligations. 


LORD   AND    LADY   XORTHCOTE  379 

I  noticed  outside  one  door  "  Grautli  Sahib,"  and 
wondered  what  Scotsman  had  entered  himself  as 
pupil  with  such  companions.  On  inquiry  it  proved 
that  this  was  the  shrine  or  chapel  of  the  "  Granth  "  or 
Sacred  Book  of  the  Sikhs,  the  one  symbol  allowed  in 
their  worship.  We  went  into  the  room  where  it  was 
kept,  and  found  a  large  volume  lying  on  the  floor,  with 
flowers  thrown  upon  it,  evidently  the  oflering  of  some 
devotee  who  had  performed  "  poojah  "  or  worship. 

At  beautiful  Amritsar,  now  a  liome  of  sad  memories, 
in  the  Golden  Temple  in  the  Lake,  we  saw  a  far  more 
gorgeous  shrine,  but  still  with  the  Granth  as  its  centre 
of  worship. 

I  must  not  linger  over  these  scenes,  though  every 
part  of  India  offers  a  fresh  temptation  to  dwell  on  its 
manifold  races,  its  historic  temples  and  palaces,  but 
must  hasten  to  our  sojourn  at  Bombay,  where  Lord 
and  Lady  Northcote  gave  us  some  of  the  most  delightful 
weeks  of  our  lives,  including  a  truly  cheerful  Christmas 
in  a  home  away  from  home. 

Every  day  brought  something  of  interest  seen  under 
the  best  possible  auspices,  and  every  evening  a  happy 
time  with  our  friends.  It  was  a  joy  also  to  find  how 
they  had  rooted  themselves  in  the  esteem  and  affection 
of  both  English  and  Indians  in  the  Presidency. 

Just  before  we  sailed  for  England  came  the  news  of 
Queen  Victoria's  serious  illness.  Everyone  knew, 
though  no  one  liked  to  acknowledge,  that  recovery  was 
problematical.  Wireless  telegraphy  was  still  in  its 
infancy,  so  we  had  no  news  between  Bombay  and 
Aden,  where  we  arrived  in  the  middle  of  the  night.  I 
was  asleep  in  my  Ijcrtli  when  our  ship  anchored,  and  I 
shall  never  forget  waking  in  the  early  dawn  and  hearing 
a  man's  voice  saying  to  a  friend  just  outside  my  cabin, 


380   THE  PASSING  OF  THE  GREAT  QUEEN     [ch.  xvi 

"  She  went  off  very  quietly."  No  need  to  ask  who  it 
was  whose  passing  from  earth  had  wrung  the  hearts 
of  many  nations,  and  not  least  of  those  who  go  down 
to  the  sea  in  ships. 

People  who  remember  those  winter  days  need  no 
description  of  their  import,  and  those  who  are  too 
young  to  recall  them  can  never  realise  what  it  meant 
to  feel  as  if  a  whole  Empire  had  become  one  great 
orphaned  family.  Statesmen  and  soldiers  had  given 
place  to  tLeir  successors,  poets,  philosophers,  and  men 
of  science  had  passed  away,  but  for  over  sixty  years  the 
Queen  had  been  the  unchanging  centre  of  our  national 
life,  and  it  seemed  incredible  that  even  she  had  laid 
down  the  burden  of  sovereignty,  and  would  no  longer 
share  the  joys  and  sorrows  of  her  people. 

And  here  I  w^ould  end  these  wandering  reminiscences, 
but  must  just  record  one  tribute  to  her  memory  in 
which  I  was  privileged  to  take  part. 

In  the  following  May  a  number  of  women  dressed  in 
deep  mourning  assembled  at  10  Downing  Street,  then 
the  dwelling  of  the  Prime  Minister,  Mr.  Arthur  Balfour. 
His  sister  Miss  Balfour,  Miss  Georgina  Frere,  daughter 
of  the  late  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  and  Lady  Edward  Cecil 
(now  Lady  Milner)  had  assembled  us  in  order  that  we 
might  establish  a  society  for  knitting  more  closely 
together  British  subjects  dwelling  in  various  parts  of 
the  Empire. 

We  called  it  the  Victoria  League  in  memory  of  the 
great  Queen-Empress  under  whose  sway  that  Empire 
had  extended  to  "  regions  Caesar  never  knew.''  The 
executive  committee  then  elected  was  composed  of  the 
wives  and  sister  of  Cabinet  Ministers,  of  wives  of  leaders 
of  the  Opposition,  and  other  representative  ladies.  Most 
unexpectedly,  just  before  the  meeting  Lady  Eayleigh 


THE   VICTORIA   LEAGUE  381 

(Mr.  Balfour's  sister)  informed  me  that  I  was  to  take 
the  chair  and  that  it  was  intended  to  appoint  me  first 
President.  ^ly  breath  was  quite  taken  away,  but 
there  was  neither  time  nor  opportunity  for  remon- 
strance, and  I  concluded  that  I  was  chosen  because  one 
great  object  of  the  founders  being  to  emphasise  "  no 
party  politics,''  it  was  thought  wiser  not  to  select  a 
President  whose  husband  was  of  Cabinet  rank,  and  that 
though  a  Conservative  I  had  the  qualification  of  over- 
seas experience. 

The  late  Lady  Tweedmouth,  a  Liberal,  was  appointed 
Vice-President,  and  shortly  afterwards  Mrs.  Alfred 
Lyttelton,  representing  the  Liberal  Unionists,  became 
Honorary  Secretary.  Later  on  Miss  Talbot,  now  Dame 
Meriel,  took  the  post  of  Secretary,  which  she  held  for 
fifteen  years,  and  Mrs.  Maurice  Macmillaix  succeeded 
Miss  Georgina  Frere  as  Honorary  Treasurer,  a  position 
which  she  still  holds.  Miss  Drayton,  O.B.E.,  is  now 
our  most  efficient  Secretary. 

For  myself  I  have  been  President  for  twenty-one 
years,  and,  thanks  to  the  extraordinary  kindness  and 
capacity  of  my  colleagues,  those  years  have  been  full 
of  interest  and  unshadowed  by  any  disputes,  despite 
the  divergent  politics  of  the  directing  committees.  We 
have  always  borne  in  miiul  the  purpose  of  the  League 
so  well  summed  up  by  Rudyard  Kipling  on  its  founda- 
tion, "  the  first  attempt  to  organise  sympathy." 

We  have  now  38  British  Branches  and  22  Overseas 
Affiliated  Leagues,  besides  Allied  Associations,  and  we 
are  honoured  by  having  tiie  King  and  (^^ueen  as  Patrons 
and  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  other  members  of  the 
Royal  Family  as  Vice-Patrons. 

Men  were  soon  added  to  our  Councils,  and  we  had 
two  splendid  Deputy  Presidents  in  Sir  I'Mward  Cook 


382   THE  PASSING  OF  THE  GREAT  QUEEN     [ch.  xvi 

and  Sir  James  Dunlop-Smitli,  now,  alas  !  both  taken 
from  us.  But  the  twenty-one  years  of  the  League's 
work  lie  outside  the  limits  of  these  wandering  recol- 
lections. 

I  would,  however,  like  to  insert  the  wise  words  which 
Mr.  Chamberlain  wrote  on  March  16th,  1902,  in  reply 
to  a  request  sent  by  desire  of  our  Committee  for  some 
official  recognition.  After  acknowledging  my  letter  he 
continues  : 

"  I  heartily  approve  of  the  efforts  you  are  making  to 
draw  closer  the  ties  between  our  Colonial  kinsfolk  and 
ourselves.  I  believe  that  the  questions  of  sentiment 
enter  more  largely  into  these  things  than  the  average 
man  is  willing  to  admit,  and  that  we  have  lost  much  in 
the  past  by  the  absence  of  personal  intercourse  with 
those  whose  support  and  friendship  are  daily  becoming 
more  important  to  us  as  a  Nation.  The  Colonials  are 
especially  sensitive  to  these  personal  considerations. 
They  find  it  difficult  to  understand  our  preoccupations 
and  the  impossibility  of  returning  the  hospitality  they 
so  freely  offer  when  we  visit  them. 

"  No  Government  can  set  this  matter  right,  as  it  is 
not  a  question  of  official  recognition,  but  of  private 
and  personal  courtesy. 

"  I  look  therefore  with  the  greatest  hope  to  the  work  of 
such  associations  as  yours  which  may  help  to  make  our 
Colonists  feel  that  we  appreciate  their  affection  and  desire 
as  far  as  in  us  lies  to  reciprocate  it.'' 

He  then  proceeds  to  explain  the  view  which  he  says 
he  has  already  discussed  with  Mr.  Alfred  Lyttelton — 
namely,  that  it  is  wiser  to  refrain  from  giving  official 
colour  to  a  work  which  had  better  maintain  a  "  private 
and  personal  character."    He  continues  : 

"  I  cannot  dissociate  myself  from  my  office,  and  I  do 
not  think  that  it  would  be  wise  or  desirable  that  I 
should  extend  the  vast  field  of  responsibility  which  that 


MR.    CHAMBERLAINS    LETTER  383 

office  already  covers  by  associating  myself  publicly  with 
these  private  Associations." 

He  expresses  himself  as  ready  at  any  time  to  give 
such  assistance  as  obtaining  special  privileges  for  the 
guests  we  represent  at  the  Coronation  or  other  functions, 
and  then  says  : 

"  But  I  feel  that,  except  in  such  ways,  I  had  better 
stand  apart,  and  that  the  great  value  of  these  associa- 
tions lies  in  their  non-official  character.  I  represent 
the  Government — you  represent  the  people,  and  I 
tliink  it  is  most  important  that  this  distinction  should 
be  carefully  preserved. 

"  I  am  open  to  conviction,  but  I  think  I  am  right  in 
begging  you  to  accept  my  reasons  and  to  excuse  me 
from  accepting  a  request  which  as  a  private  individual 
I  should  have  been  proud  to  comply  with." 

Naturally  we  felt  the  justice  of  views  so  fully  and 
courteously  explained. 

And  now  I  must  end.  The  years  spent  under  the 
rule  of  two  great  Kings,  and  the  guidance  of  two  gracious 
Queens,  have  had  their  joys  and  sorrows,  public  and 
private,  but  they  lie  too  near  our  day  for  a  woman  to 
attempt  even  a  personal  record  of  what  they  have 
brought  under  her  ken. 

The  happy  marriages  of  my  eldest  son  to  tlie  beloved 
daughter  of  Lord  Kilmorey,  of  my  youngest  daughter 
to  Lord  Dunsany,  and  of  my  brother  Rupert  to  Mias 
Dudley  Smith  belong  to  the  present  century. 

I  can  only  say  how  grateful  I  am  for  tiie  alTection 
of  many  friends,  and  the  love  of  my  children  and 
grandchildren,  wliich  have  softened  the  sorrows  and 
heightened  the  joys  of  these  latter  years. 

THE    END 


INDEX 


Abdul  Kerim,  Queen  Victoria's 
Munshi,  194-195,  213 

Abingdon,  Earl  of,  35 
Abu  Simbal,  360.  361 
Adderley,    Sir    Charles,  and    Hon. 

Lady,  n^  Loigh,  21 
Addorley  Cousins   at   Hams   Hall, 

21,  64 
Adyar,  Theosophist  Headquarters, 
i67.  168 

Apa  Khan,  H.H..  the,  152-154 

Akbar,  his  Tomb,  193  ;  why  he 
built  Futtehpore-Sekree,  194 

AUiert  Edward,  H.R.H.  Prince  of 
Wales  (Edward  VII).  gives  cigar 
to  Mr.  Dibbs,  251,  252 

Alcester,  Admiral  Lord,  115 

Alexandra,  H.R.H.,  Princess  of 
Wales  (afterwards  Queen),  gown 
woven  for,  23  ;  fete  given  for  her 
marriage  at  Mentone,  25,  26 ; 
Prince  William  at  her  wedding, 
26;  at  Marlborough  House,  36, 
366 

Alexandra,  Princess,  of  Greece,  209- 
210 

AH  Beg,  159 

Ampthill,  Dowager  Lady,  111 

Ancrum,  Earl  of,  A.D.C.,  acciden- 
tally killed,  285 

.(Vndrew,  Prince,  of  Greece,  130 

.\n  twerp,  60 

Apia,  capital  of  Samoa,  291 

Arcadia,  m.h.,  145,  247 

Ardagh,  Col.  Sir  Jolm,  182 

Ardgowan,  16 

Argyll,  8lh  Duke  of,  80,  81 

Arm'jnd  liehic,  Mosaagorios  h.s.,  277 

Arnold,  Sir  Edwm.  88,  89 

Arran,  Me  of,  35,  36 

Anhley,  Hon.  Lionol.  125.  126,  127 

AHMiout  and  its  Mudir,  216-217 

AHsouiin,  214,  358,  359,  363 

Ath«!nH,  127 

Auckland,  275 

Augusta,  Emprosa,  100-lOi 


Aastralia,  voyage  to,  247,  248 
Avon,  River,  at  Stoneleigh,  17 
Avon,  River,  at  Christchurch,  X.Z., 
273 


B 


Baker,  Sir  Samuel  and  Lady,  148, 

149 
Baker,  Shirley,  Wesleyan  Mission- 
ary, 287,  288 
Bakm^teff,  Russian  diplomat,  132, 

135,  137,  138,  140 
Bathurst,  William,  5th  Earl,  78,  79 
Bazaine.  Marshal,  his  escape  from 

Ste.  MarpueritK?,  96 
Beaconsdeld,  Lord,  71,  79 
Beckford,     William,     of     Fontliill 

Abbey,  58,  59 
Bedford,  Hastings,  Duke  of,  109 
Benadadda,  Scotch  giant,  48,  49 
Benson,     Mr.     E.     F.     and     Miss, 

Excavations  in  Egypt,  358 
Boresford,  Lord  William,  182 
Berlin,  visit  to,  100-110 
Bornhartlt,  Sarah,  95 
Bernstoff,  Madame,  her  ghost  story, 

122,  123 
Bhownuggar,  Maharajah  of,  his  aims 

and  dirticultios,  198,  199 
Biarritz,  95 

Bilgrami.  Sycd  Hossain,  C.S.I. ,  158 
Bismarck,  Prince,  105-110 
Bismarck,  Princt«s.s,  105 
Bismarck,  Count  llorlxjrt,  105 
Blyth,    Dr.,    Anglican    Bishop    at 

Jerusalem,  220 
Bombay,  150 
Bo.irk.i,  Hsv.  Cecil,  76 
Brahmo-Soinaj,  182-184 
Brandling,  Mr.  Charles,  69 
Brisbane,  324 

Hr<>u;,'h  (Irish  (Juid«).  41-42 
Brougham,    Ist   Lord,   Lord    Ch>i  n- 

oollor,  24 
Broughton  Castlu,  76 

385 


386 


INDEX 


Browne,    Thomas     (Rolf     Boldre- 

wood),  252 
Browning,  Robert,  76 
Buckingham,  Duchess  of,  254 
Buller,  Mr.  Charles,  145 
Buller,  F.M.  Sir  Redvers,  374 
Burley-on-the-Hill,   79 
Bute,  Dowager  Marchioness  of,  nee 

Howard,  57 


Cairns,  1st  Earl,  Lord  Chancellor, 
his  ghost  story,  122 

Cairo,  357 

Calcutta,  182-184 

Campbell,  Lady  Agnes  :   see  Frank 

Campbell,  Sir  Archibald,  27 

Campbell,  Sir  Colin,  188,  189 

Canadian  Pacific  Railway,  347-348 

Cannes,  24,  68,  372 

Canton,  Viceroy  of,  333,  334 

Carnegie,  Ladies  Helena  and  Dora, 
276 

Carpenter,  Miss,  philanthropist, 
186,  187 

Catdcot  Infant  School,  66,  67 

Caversfield,  The  Angelic  Choir,  75 

Cazenove,  Canon,  231 

Cecil,  Lady  Gwendolen,  114 

Cecil,  Lord  Robert,  142 

Cedercrantz,  Swedish  Chief  Justice 
in  Samoa,  292 

Oephalonia  and  its  brigands,  139, 
140 

Ceylon,  247 

Chamberlain,  Miss  Beatrice,  144 

Chamberlain,  Mrs.,  n6e  Endicott, 
144,  372 

Chamberlain,  Rt.  Hon.  Joseph, 
first  acquaintance  with,  140 ; 
his  political  creed,  143,  372  ;  at 
Osterley,  143,  144,  371  ;  in 
Egypt,  214,  215  ;  letter  concern- 
ing Victoria  League,  352,  383 

Chandar  Ras  Behadur  Khanha,  165 

Chicago,  348-354 

Cholmondeley,  Captain  Harry, 
A.D.C.,  242,  249 

Cholmondeley,  Rev.  Lionel,  345 

Cholmondeley,  Hon.  Mrs.,  n^e 
Leigh,  21 

Christchurch,  N.Z.,  272 

Christian,  H.R.H.,  Princess,  39 

Christmas  at  Stoneleigh  Abbey,  20, 
21 

Chimder  Sen  Babu,  183 

Clarence,  H.R.H.,  Duke  of,  242; 
death  of,  268 


Clarke,  Mr.  Frederick,  216,  217 
Clarke,  Mr.  Rochfort  and  pictures, 

73,  74 
Cleveland,  Caroline,  Duchess  of,  82 
Clinton,  Lord  Edward,  212 
Colombo,  247 
Columbus,     Christopher,     how    he 

discovered  America,  348,  349 
Connaught,     T.R.H.     Duke     and 

Duchess,  151,  152 
Connemara,   Lord,   145,    162,    166, 

167,  180 
Consort,  H.R.H.  Prince,  11,  12,  13 
Constantine,      Duke      of      Sparta 

("Tino"),  209 
Constantine,     Grand    Duke     (Ro- 
manoff),  6 
Constantinople,  232,  233 
Cook,  Sir  Edward,  382 
Cook,    Sir    Francis,    collection    at 
I" .  Richmond,  238 

Crawford,  Emily,  Coimtess  of,  238 
Crimean  War,  4 

Cromer,  Earl  and  Countess  of,  357 
Crystal  Palace,  2,  3 
Curzon,   Hon.    Gteorge,   afterwards 

Marquis,  127 
Cusack-Smith,  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir 

Thomas)  and  Mrs.,  296 
Custarde,  Miss,  Governess,  6-8  ^   ' 

D 

Damascus,  226-230 

Darley,  Sir  Frederick,  Chief  Justice, 
N.S.W.,  and  Lady,  251-253 

Dartrey,  Countess  of,  64 

Dashwood,  Sir  George,  72 

Dashwood,  Sir  Henry  and  Lady,  72 

Davis,  Jefferson,  ex-President,  36 

de  Bunsen,  Sir  Maurice,  336 

Deichmann,  Baron  and  Baroness, 
107,  108 

De  La  Warr,  Earl  and  Countess  of, 
117-119 

Derby,  Edward,  15th  Earl  of,  at 
the  Spithead  Naval  Review,  115, 
117-119;  letters  from,  245-247, 
257-264 ;  poem  composed  in 
sleep,  264-265  ;    death  of,  264 

Derby,  Mary,  Coimtess  of,  119,  120 

de  Ros,  Lord,  80 

Des  Vceux,  Sir  WiUiam,  118-119 

Devereux,  General  and  Hon.  Mrs,» 
72 

Devonshire,  Duchess  of,  182 

Dewar,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  77 

Dibbs,  Sir  George,  First  Australian- 
bom  Premier,  251,  252 


INDEX 


38' 


Dickson,  Mr.,  Consul,  at  Damascus, 

227,  228 
Dieppe,  5 
Dragoumis,  Greek  Foreign  Minister, 

132,  133 
Draper,  Rev.  W.  H.  and  yirs.,  7(3, 

77 
Draj-ton,  Miss.  O.B.E.,3Sl 
Duff,  Sir  Robert,  324 
Dufferin,  Marquis  of.  Viceroy,  171 
Dunedin,  N.Z.,  268,  269 
Dunlop-Smith,  Sir  James,  382 
DjTaevor,  Lord  (Hon.  W.  Rice),  374 

E 
East,  Sir  James,  35 
Eaton  Hall,  33 

Edgcumbe,  Col.  Hon.  Cliarles,  127 
Edgehill,  '"The  Sunrising,"  56 
Edinburgh,  H.R.H.   Duke  of,  289; 

at  Melbourne,  247 
Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  his  first 

public  appearance,  372,  373 
Elephanta,  Caves  of,  150 
EUenborough,  Lady,  her  romantic 

life,  227.  228 
Endicott,  Miss  :  see  Chamberlain 
Epidaiu-us  Amphitheatre,  133 
Esterhazy,  Prince  Louis,  143 
Esterhazy,  Prince  Nicholas,  78 
Eugenie,  Empress,  245 
Eulalia,  Infanta,  350-354 
EuJenberg,  Count,  101 


Faudel-Phillips,  Sir   George,   Lord 

Mayor  at  Temple  Bar,  373 
Fawoett,  Mr.,  Judge  at  Tanjore,  170 
Feam,  Clarice,  208 
Feam,  Mr.,  American  diplomat,  208 
Ferdinand  of  Bulgaria,  236 
Ferris,   Captain,    British   Agent  at 

Bhownuggur,  199 
Fiji,  High  Commissioner,  288 
Fin,McCouI(Fingal),  Irish  Giant,  48 
Font  hi  11  Abbey,  67,  58,  64 
Frank,  Dr.,  28 

Frank.  I^dy  Agnes,  27,  28,  70 
Fr«'<lcrifk,     Cro^-n     Prince,     after- 

wardH  Kmrxror,  102,  103,  110 
Fro'lcrick,    CYown    I'rincosH,    aft<>r« 

ward*  EmpresH,  102.  103.  104 
Free  KJrk  Settlers  in  New  Zealand, 

269 
IV'i-man.  family  butler,  141,  142 
!■>'  r<\  MiHH  G<'orginft,  381 
Frond",  J.  A.,  81  ;   epigram  on  him 

anil  Kmgnley,  82 
Fultohpon.-Sfkreo.  193 


G 

Gailev,  Mrs.,  nurse  at  Stoneleigh, 
9.  10 

Galloway,  Mary,  Countess  of,  first 
acquaintance  with.  79.  82 ; 
letter  from.  87  ;  with  her  in 
Italy,  99  ;  in  B<'rlin.  10O-109; 
at  the  Naval  Rtview.  115-119; 
in  Greece.  127-140;  meeting  at 
Cairo  antl  rt»turn  to  Greece.  207  ; 
journey  with  her  through  Egj'pt, 
I'alestine.  Syria.  C<in8t-antinople 
and  Vienna.  214-237  ;  nurses 
Lady  Jersey  in  L'pixT  Crosvenor 
Street.  244  ;  visits  Australia  and 
New  Zealand.  26G-276 

Garil)al(li  Hjiiin,  25;    prison,  28 

Genoa, 27 

George  V.  H.M.  King,  as  an  infant, 
36  ;   on  the  BdCchatUc,  243 

George,  King  of  Greece,  129.  208 

George,  King  of  Tonga,  287-290 

Crt»rard,  Sir  Robert,  68 

Ghent,  60 

Giant's  Causeway,  its  legend,  48,  49 

Gladstone,  Mr.,  his  theory  of  im- 
mortality, 87 

Glendalough  and  ita  legends,  41,  42 

Glengariff,  43 

Goschen,  Hon.  George,  afterwards 
Viscoimt,  Private  Secretary.  279, 
280.  286 

Grandison,  V^iscount,  Irish  title  of 
Jersey  family,  65,  126 

Grant  J^uff,  Sir  Mount  Stuart, 
offers  a  cloth  to  the  Ranee,  169  ; 
views  on  Madras  Harbour,  180 

Greenwich  Hospital,  29 

Grenfell,  Sir  tVancis  Sirdar,  after- 
wards Lord  Grenfell,  215,  216 

Gn^nfell,  Mr.  W.  H.,  afterwards 
Lord  Deslxjrough,  97.  98 

Grey.  Sir  George,  of  Now  Zealand, 
250 

Griffith,  Sir  Samuel,  Australian 
statesman,  250 

Grigg.  Mr.,  Madras  Minister  of 
Education,  and  Mrs.,  178 

Oripg,  Sir  Ivlward  as  a  boy  at 
MadniH,  178 

OroHVcnor  House,  3,  4.  61 

Gubbuiri,    Sahib,    FiOiinoial    Com 
minhioner  at   Lurknow,   IH9 

Guest,  La<ly  Theodore,  32,  210 

Gwalior,  377 

H 

Hadji  Petroa,  Crook  Lord  Cliamber- 
lain,  137 


388 


INDEX 


Hadji  Petros,  brigand,  a  husband 
of  Lady  Ellenborough,  228 

Haggard,  Bazett  Michael,  291,  293, 
294 

Haggard,  William,  charge  d'affaires 
in  Athens,  128;  and  Mrs.,  129- 
210 

Hakone,  Lake,  343 

Halsbury,  1st  Earl  of,  Lord  Chan- 
cellor, and  the  ghost,  123 

Hamilton,  Lady,  wife  of  Governor 
of  Tasmania,  268 

Hamilton,  Lord  and  Lady  George, 
376 

Hanna,  Colonel  Commanding  at 
Delhi,  190 ;  his  stories  of  the 
siege,  191 

Hare,  Augustus,  his  account  of 
Osterley,  237,  238 

Havelock,  Sir  Henry,  and  the 
Relief  of  Lucknow,  188 

Hay,  Dr.  and  Mrs.,  256 

Hayashi,  Viscount,  on  Japanese 
religion,  340 

Heather-Bigg,  Miss  Ada,  foundress 
Children's  Happy  Evenings,  369 

Helouan,  363 

Hendley,  Doctor,  197 

Hext,  Captain,  Director  of  Indian 
Marine,  146,  151,  229,  230 

Higginson,  Sir  George,  Story  of 
Crimea,  4 

Hinemoa,  Maori  heroine,  274 

Hinemoa,  New  Zealand  Government 
yacht,  269 

Hobart,  268 

Holmwood,  Mr.,  British  Consul  at 
Smyrna,  230 

Hong-Kong,  329,  330,  331 

Hood,  Lady  Maria,  nee  Fox- 
Strangways,  57 

Hopetoun,  Lord,  afterwards  Mar- 
quis of  Linlithgow,  248 

Hornbjr,  Sir  Ed.  and  Lady,  appari- 
tion to  at  Shanghai,  124,  125 

Houghton,  Lord,  80,  81 

Hughes,  Thomas,  gives  Lowell's 
works  to  Lady  Jersey,  85  ;  writes 
story  for  her  son,  89-91  ;  founds 
"  New  Rugby,"  91 

Hunter,  Colonel,  afterwards  General 
Sir  Archibald,  361 

Hyderabad,  155-161,  and  376,  377 


Inchmery,  117-119 
India,   visits   to,    145-204 ;     poem 
inspired  by,  205 


Innes,  Sir  George  and  Lady,  249 
Inouye,  Marquis  and  Marchioness, 

345 
Invercargill,  269 
Ireland  and  its  legends,  41-50 


Jackson,  Major,  afterwards  Sir 
Herbert,  at  Assouan,  3  68,  359 

Jains,  the,  and  the  Dilwarra 
Temples,  197-198 

James,  Henry,  92 

Japan,  Emperor  of,  337-340 

Japan,  Empress  of,  337-339 

Jeacock,  Job,  Parish  Clerk  at 
Stoneleigh,  20 ;  made  Sir  H. 
Parkes's  first  breeches,  249 

Jenkins,  W.  H.,  69  and  70 

Jenkins,  Lady  Caroline,  nee 
Villiers,  63,  69-71 

Jenolan  Caves,  N.S.W.,  253,  254 

Jersey,  7th  Earl  of,  as  a  boy,  56  ; 
engagement  and  marriage,  61— 
64  ;  Lord-in- Waiting,  79  ;  Lord- 
Lieutenant  of  Oxfordshire,  125  ; 
at  Windsor,  212-213 ;  Travels 
in  France,  68,  95,  96;  in  Italy, 
94,  96,  97  ;  in  Switzerland,  94  ; 
in  India,  145-205 ;  in  Egypt, 
206-7,  356-364  ;  in  Greece,  208- 
1 1  ;  Paymaster-General,  240 ;  ap- 
pointed Governor  of  New  South 
Wales,  242;  at  Balmoral,  242, 
243  ;  life  in  Australia,  249-257, 
267,  268  ;  visits  New  Caledonia, 
276-284;  in  China,  329-335; 
in  Japan,  335-345,  376-379; 
through  Canada,  347-348 ;  in 
United  States,  343-345 ;  at  Child's 
Bank,  373 

Jersey,  Frances,  Countess  of,  nee 
Twysden,  68,  78 

Jersey,  Julia,  Countess  of,  nee  Peel, 
62,  69 

Jersey,  Margaret  Elizabeth,  Coun- 
tess of,  nee  Leigh ;  birth,  1  ; 
journey  with  parents  to  France, 
4-5  ;  to  Scotland,  14,  15 ;  to 
France  and  Italy,  23-29,  36; 
to  Ireland,  40-50  ;  with  Rev.  J. 
and  Mrs.  Leigh  to  Holland  and 
Belgium,  60  ;  marriage,  61-64  ; 
country  neighbours,  72-77  ; 
other  friends,  81-93  ;  after 
marriage,  travels  in  France,  68, 
95,  96 ;  in  Italy,  94,  96,  97,  356, 
375  ;  in  Switzerland,  94  ;  in 
Germany,  100-109 ;  at  the  Naval 


INDEX 


389 


Review,      115-119;       travels    in 
India,      145-205.     37<>-379  ;      at    ' 
Windsor,    212.    213  ;     travels    in    ' 
Greece,    127-140,     208-211;     in    1 
Egj-pt,      206-7.     214-218.     356- 
364;   Palestine,  219-225;  Syria, 
225-230 ;     ConstHntinopIe,    232-    i 
235;       in     Australia.      249-257, 
267,    268  ;    visits   New   Zealand,    | 
268-276.    319-323;      New    C*ile- 
d.  nia.    276-284  ;      Tonga,     287-    | 
2<.'l  ;    Samoa,  291-318,  President 
Victoria  League,  381  j 

Jersey,    Sarah.    Countess    of,    n6e 
Fane,  65-67.  78 

Jeypore,  City  of  Victory.  196 

Johnston,   Mr.    and   Mrs.,   and   the 
Heart  of  Moiitro.se.  172-175 

.Jung,    Sir    Salar,   and  his  sisters, 
159-161 

Jusserand,  Monsieur,  366-367 

K 

Kamak.  358 

Katoomba.  253 

Kemble,  Mrs.  Fanny,  53.  62 

Killamey  Lakes,  43-45 

Kingsley,  Charles  ;    see  Froude,  J. 

A. 
Kintoi-e,  Earl,  248 
Kipling.    Rudyard.    "rising   celel> 

rity,"  262  ;  quoted.  19.  276,  347  ; 

his  "  Recessional."  356 
Kitchener,  Earl,  in  Egypt,  20",  214, 

358  ;   vi8it*<  to  Ohteriev,  214,  365- 

367,  368  ;    letters  from,  362,  363. 

364-365,  366  ;    at  Delhi,  367-368 
Knowle*>,     Sir    JameK     and     Sine- 

leerUh  Cenlury,  124.   125 
Kobe.  335 

Kotab  Minar.  the,  191 
Kowloon,  330 
KrishnH,      Mruhrnin      worship      of, 

hJH  birthpiufc.    195 
Ku.li  R-li.ii,  M.iliiiraj.il.  of.  183,  184 

i. 
Uu:hrii.iii  iJuH,  Seth,  105    196 
Iviffoii.  Mon«ieur.  Governor  nf  New 

CJalwionia.  279.  281 
Uihnre.  378.  379 
l.«ani«df)waie,      MarquJM     and      Mar- 

ehioiietw  of.  182 
Ivithoni,  Fjnr\  and  CoiinteHM  cjf.  I  l.'{, 

144 
J.Aurium  Minew,   135,   13ti 
r>-<kv.  Mr.  and  Mrn.,  119 
1^-igh.  Hon.  AgnoH,  4,   12.    13,    14. 

34,  40 

20 


Leigh,  Hon.  AugiLita,  17 

Leigh,  Caroline,  Lady,  nee  Gros- 
venor,  2  ;  devotion  of  childrtMi, 
8,  9  ;  advice  on  daught<>r's  mar- 
riage, 64  ;  lettors  of  daughter  to, 
209,  210,  133  -  134.  .336  -  3.39; 
poems  by,  15,  16;  98,  99.  111- 
113;    at  Child's  Bank.  373 

Leigh,  Chandos,  1st  Lord,  2 

Leigh,  Hon.  Sir  Chandos,  K.C, 
22,  52,  53 

Leigh,  Hon.  Lady  Chandos,  n6e 
Rigby,  52,  53 

Leigh,  Hon.  Mary  Cordelia,  30,  40, 

62,  127 

Leigh,  Hon.  Dudley,  afterwards 
3rd  Lord  Leigh,   12,   13,    14,  40, 

63.  145.  244 

Leigh,     Hon.     Mrs.     Dudley,     nee 

Beckwith,  244,  245 
Leigh,  Mr.  and  Mrs.   Gerard,   146, 

147 
Leigh,  Hon.    Gilbert,   M.P.,   4,    12, 

13.  14.  54  ;    death  of,  97-99 
Leigh.     Hon.      Mrs.      James,     n»^ 
Butler,    53,    54,    60,    62 ;     letter 
from,  64 
Leigh,  Margarette,  Lady,  ni^e  Willes, 

16,  78 
Leigh,  Hon.  Rowland.  40.  375 
Leigh,    Hon.     Mrs.     liowland,    n6e 

Gordon.  349. 375 
Leigh.  Major  Hon.  RujK^rt.  12.  40  ; 
A.D.C.,  242  ;  accompanies  Lady 
Jersej-  on  s.s.  Liibecfc,  287;  in 
Tonga,  288,  289  ;  in  Samoa. 
298  ;  writes  in  Av  Object  of  Pity. 
315  ;  joins  Staff  of  Sir  RolxTt 
Duff.  324  :  marriage.  383 
Leigh.      Hon.     Mrs.     RupMt,     ncV 

Dudley  Smith,  383 
Leigh,     Hon.     and     li<>v.     ■!.     W. 

(Dean  of  Hereford),  2(1,  21.  53 
Leigh,  William  Henry.  2nd  Lord, 
entertains  North  VVarwiekshire 
Hunt.  1;  marriage,  2;  travels 
with  his  children,  4,  5,  14,  15. 
23-29,  36  ;  receives  Queen  Vic- 
tr>ria  at  Stoneleigh,  1113;  takes 
nioors  ill  .Scotland.  14.  15;  talks 
with  NeJMon'H  servant.  29;  visit*- 
Inland.  41-.">0  ;  at  Child's  Bank. 
373 
l/v<Hon-(Jower,     Hon.     Mrs.,     n<^- 

I^igh,  22 
Littli-dale.  Mrw..  School   for  Induiii 

liidieH.   158 
Llovrl,  Mr.  and  Mm..  31.  32 
L<..  h.  |Mf  Lord,  334 


390 


INDEX 


Longford,  Colonel,  Ear  lof,  374,  375 
Lowe,     Robert,     afterwards     Lord 

Sherbrooke,  and  Mrs.,  119 
Lowell,   Mr.   J.    R.,    letters    from, 

83,  86 ;  poems  by,  84,  86 
Lucknow,  188 
Lugard,   Sir  Frederick  and  Lady, 

323,  324 
Lyons  Silk  Manufactory,  23 
Lyttelton,  Hon.  Mrs.  Alfred,  381 
Lyttelton,   Lord,  and  the  Canter- 
bury Association,  282 
Lytton,    Countess    of,    and    Lady 
Betty,  127 

M 

Macclesfield,    Mary,    Countess    of, 

nee  Grosvenor,  her  story  of  ex- 
Kaiser,  26,  27  ;  mentioned,  31,  36 
McDonnell,  Sir  Schomberg,  370 
MacMahon,  Marshal,  96 
Macmillan,  Mrs.  Maurice,  381 
Madras,  162  et  seq.  ;   Harbour,  180 
Madura, 172-177 
Mahableshwar,  151 
Malet,  Sir  Edward,  100,  101,  109 
Malet,  Lady  Ermyntrude,  100,  101, 

105,  109 
Malietoa  Laupepa,  King  of  Samoa, 

292  ;   dinner  with,  296-297 
Marathon  and  its  brigands,  31,  32  ; 

visited,  129 
Marie,  Princess,  of  Greece,  130 
Margaret,  Queen  of  Italy,  356 
Marsham,  Charles,  74 
Mary,    H.M.     Queen,    interest    in 

"  Children's     Happy     Evenings 

Association,"  369 
Mason,  Miss  (Lady  Allen),  247 
Mataafa,  rival  King  of  Samoa,  292, 

297-304 
Max  Miiller,  Professor,  147,  340 
Maxwell,     Sir     Herbert     Maxwell, 

Bart.,  237 
May,  Colonel,  at  Lucknow,  189 
Mehdi  Ali,  Mrs.,  159 
Mentone.  5  ;   marriage  celebrations 

at  for  Prince  of  Wales,  25,  26 
Meshaka,     Mr.,     Vice -Consul     at 

Damascus,  226-229 
Meyer,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John,  96,  97 
Middleton  Park,  65,  66,  71,  72 
Milford  Sound,  270 
Miyanoshita,  hot  baths,  345 
Molyneux,    Hon.    Mrs.    Caryl,   nee 

Lawley,  56 
Morrison,  Mr.  Alfred,  58,  59 
Movmt    Abu,    Jain     temples    on, 

197,  198 


Mount  Stephen,  Lord,  374 

"  Mrs.  Malaprop,"  a  modern,   210. 

211 
Muncaster,   Lady,   nee   Grosvenor, 

31  ;  marries  Hon.  H.  Lindsay,  32 
Muncaster,  Lord  and  Lady,  31,  32, 

120 

N 

Nabeshima,  Marquis,  345 
Napier  of  Merchiston,  Lord,  172 
Nauplia,  132,  133 
Nazli,  Princess,  217,  218 
Nekualofa  in  Tonga,  287 
Newdegate,  Sir  Frank,  17 
Newdigate,  Hon.  Mrs.,  nee  Leigh, 

16,  17 
New  Caledonia,  voyage  to,  276,  277 
Newcastle  in  Australia,  319 
Newman,  Cardinal,  92,  93 
New  York,  354,  355 
New  Zealand,  268-276 
Niagara,  354 
Nikko,  336 

Nile,  the,  215,  216,  356-364 
Nizam,    H.H.    the    late,    155-157, 

376,  377 
Nizam,  His  Exalted  Highness  the 

present,  377 
Norfolk,  Duchess  of,  nee  Lyons,  9 
Norfolk,  Henry,  Duke  of,  as  Lord 

Maltravers,  9  ;  at  Norfolk  House, 

92 
Norfolk  Island,  217 
North,  Lord,  75 
Northcote,    Lady,    244,    355,    356 

370,  374,  375,  379 
Northcote,  Sir  Stafford  (afterwards 

Lord),  355,  356,  370,  375,  379 
Northumberland,  Eleanor,  Duchess 

of,  n6e  Grosvenor,  30,  31 
Noumea,  277,  278 
Nubar  Pasha  on  the  English,  357 

O 

O'Donoghue,  the,  44-46 

Olcott,  Colonel,  Theosophist,   146- 

148  ;   at  Adyar,  167-169 
Olga,  Queen  of  Greece,  127-128,  209 
Olympia,  139 

"  One  People,  One  Destiny,"  250 
Onslow,  Countess,  269,  275,  276 
Onslow,  Earl,  269,  271,  272,  275,  276 
Onslow,  Hon.  Huia .  Maori  Chieftain , 

after  years  of,  275 
Onslow,  Mrs.  MacArthur,  256 
Orient  Express,  235 
Osborne,  Mr.  and  Mrs.,  266 


INDEX 


391 


Osbourne.  Lloyd.  298.  315 
Oot^rlev  Pcirk,"82.  83,  86,  143.  144. 
237,  238,  3r)5 


Parker.  Hon.  Edmund,  272 
Parker.  Mr.,  of  Tonpa,  290 
Parke.s,  Sir  Honrv,  Premier  of  Xew 

South  Wiile.s,  249-251 
Paley.  Major  and  Mrs..  192 
Peel,  Hon.  Cleorge,  366 
Pender,  Sir  John,  115-117 
Perponcher,  Griifin,    100 
Phelps,  Mr.,  American  Minist^er,  142 
Pipmies,  African,  218,  219 
Ponsonby,  Sir  Henry,  212 
Port  Darwin,  325-327 
Popo,  Sainoan  native,  300 
Prt-nderpast,  Sir  Harry,   166  ;    and 

Lady,  200 
Protap,  Chunder  Mozoondar,    182, 

183 
Puiidua.B.B.,  180.  181,  182 
Pyrgos.   137,   139 

H 

Raglan,  Lord,  57 

R^iraaay,  Lady  Patricia,  as  a  child, 
152 

Raratongs  Inland  and  its  Queens, 
272 

R<«ay,  Lord  and  Lady.  151,  152.  201 

RoeH.  Sir  John.  162.  163.  178,  180 

Rob'tery  under  Arms,  253 

Roberta,  F'.M.  Eurl,  at  Lunknow, 
188-190  ;    at  Child's  Bank,  374 

Rome,  140,  356 

Rotorua,  273  ;    Lake  of.  274,  275 

Rowton,  Lord,  127,  140  ;  his  anec- 
dote of  a  picture,  239 

Rugp'B  BuildingH,  27 

KusHell,  Sir  William,  115 


St.  Helier,  Lady,  140 

St.  Knvin  at  <^Jlen'lalough,  41,  42 

SaliMbury,       Murquis       of,       Prime 

MiniHU>r,    Hi.stnarek's  oBtoeni   for, 

105.   106.   108,   109 
Sairioa,  291  et  tteq. 
Sanderson,  Lfjrd,  128.  333 
Sannoiiiiya,  BuroneKH,  337.  339 
Ssvaii.  Sainoan  iHiunrl,  292 
8chwurz»»nl>'rg,  F'rince,  215,  216 
Srolt,  I»r(l  and  l>Hdy  ("hiirles,  2H5 
HeieMU>r[>jy,  (>)unt,   114 
Serojee,    Rajah    of    Tanjoro.     170, 

171 
8ivAJ<M>,  PriauoMM  at  Tanjon',  171 


Sliafte.sbury,  Earl  of,  dictum  on  his 

generation,  369 
Shaw-Stewurt,  Sir  Hugh,  57 
Shaw-Stewart,     Sir     Michael     and 

Lady  Octavia,  n6e  Gro.svonor,  16. 

38,  57 
Shintoism.  339.  340 
Shiva  Pra<had.  Rajah.  185-187 
Siraele,  Henrv.  Samoan  Chief,  298. 

302 
Slatin  Pahha,  his  escspi^  from  Om- 

durinan,  359 
Sni>Tna,  2.30.  231 
Somorton  Sdiool,  67 
Southampton,       Lady,      Lady -in - 

Waiting,  213 
Speko    and    Grant,    their    meeting 

with  Sir  S.  Baker,  148 
Spezia.  28,  29 
Spring  Rice.  Sir  Cecil.  336 
Stalbridgo.  Lord.  34 
Stanley,  Sir  Henry.  Explorer,  218 
Stephen.    Sir    Alfred,     Lieut«»nant- 

Govemor,  N.S.W.,  255 
Stevenson,    R.    L.,    25,    294,    295; 

visit  to   rebel   camp   with,    297 

303  ;    chief  author  of  An  Object 

of  Pity,  313-316 
Stevenson,  Mrs.  R.  L..  294.  315.  316 
Stewart,  F.M.  Sir  Donald,  374 
Strathnairn,  F.M.  Lord,  77 
Strong,  Mrs.,  298,  300,  302.  315 
Suleem  Sheikh  and  his  infant  son, 

193,  194 
Sutherland,    discoverer   of    Suther- 
land Falls,  N.Z.,  270 
Suttor,  Sir  Frank.  255 
Switzerland,     ••xiH'dilion     to,    with 

children.  94 
Sydney,  arrival  at,  248 
Syon  House,  61 

T 

Talbot,  Dame  Meriel,  O.B.E.,  .381 

Tariiasese,  Samoan  Chief,  292,  304 
306 

Tunjore,  170 

Theotoki,  (;reek  Minister,  131    133 

Timor,  island  of.  327-329 

Toowoomba.  QueenNJand,  324 

Tricoupi,    Greek     Prime    MiniHter, 
130,  131 

Tricoupi,  MiHH,  130,  131,  133.  lU 

Trafalgar  M<niiii-ii,  29 

Travaiworii.  Miiharajah  an<l  Kann-.x 
<if.   H19.   170 
,    Tonua,  ihIuii.Is  of.  287    291 
{   Tubb.  Mr.  and  MrM..  74 
I   TughlakulMidnnditHrulerH.  191,  192 


392 


INDEX 


Ttimut,  N.S.W.,  reception  at,  268 
Turner,  Mr.,    Collector  of  Madura, 

172 
Tutuila,  Samoan  Island,  291,  292 
Tweedmouth,  Fanny,  Lady,  381 
Tyler,  Sir  John,  of  Agra,  192,  194 

U 

Ulwar,  196 

Upton  House,  56 

Upolu,  chief  Samoan  island,  292 


Vailima,  R.  L.  Stevenson's  home, 
315 

Valentia,  Viscount  and  Viscountess, 
72,  73 

Vancouver,  arrival  at,  346,  347 

Vetyk  Ahmed  Pasha,  his  reminis- 
cences, 234 

Victoria,  H.M.  Queen,  at  Stone- 
leigh  Abbey,  12,  13  ;  anecdote  of 
her  childhood,  13,  14  ;  in  Ireland, 
50  ;  devotion  to  Prince  Consort's 
memory,  39  ;  first  Jubilee,  110- 
113,  120,  121  ;  reverence  for  in 
India,  179,  201-203 ;  receives 
Lord  and  Lady  Jersey  at  Windsor. 
212,  213;  Diamond  Jubilee,  372- 
374  ;    her  death,  379,  380 

Victoria  League  founded,  380-382 

Villiers,  Hon.  Arthur,  birth,  82 

Villiers,  Lady  Beatrice,  82 ;  in 
Italy,  373  ;  in  India,  376,  377  ; 
marries  Lord  Dunsany,  383 

Villiers,  Lady  Clementina,  67,  68, 
79 

Villiers,  Lady  Margaret,  77,  98 ; 
in  Switzerland  and  Italy,  94,  95  ; 
in  Tonga  and  in  Samoa,  287,  291, 
298,  299  ;  leaves  Australia  with 
parents,  324 :  at  Hong-Kong,  330; 
at  Canton,  333  ;  in  Japan,  337, 
338,  343  ;  in  London,  355 ;  in 
Egypt,  356  ;  marries  Hon.  Walter 
Rice,  374 

Villiers,  Lady  Mary,  82,  97,  356  ; 
marries  Earl  of  Longford,  374 

Villiers,  Hon.  Reginald,  127 

Villiers,  Viscount  (now  8th  Earl  of 
Jersey),  birth,  68,  69  ;  at  Castle- 
moimt  School,  Dover,  82 ;  story 
written  for  by  Tom  Hughes,  89- 
91  ;  in  Switzerland,  at  Biarritz 
and  in  Italy,  94,  95  ,■  in  India 
and  Greece,  184-209  ;  wins  Junior 
Oppidan  Scholarship  at  Eton, 
214;    remains  in  England  when 


family  go  to  Australia,  245;  re- 
joins Lady  Jersey  at  Apia,  his 
experience  with  American  re- 
porter, 316  ;  marriage  with  Lady 
CjTithia  Needham,  383 

Vincent,  Sir  Edgar,  afterwards 
Lord  d'Abernon,  at  Constanti- 
nople, p.  232  ;  on  the  Orient 
Express,  235-237 

Viti,  Samoan  lady,  her  dress,  304- 
305 

W 

Wady  Haifa,  361,  362 
Wakatipu  Lake,  272 
Wallace,  Mrs.,  housekeeper,  10,  11 
Wallace,  Sir  Donald  Mackenzie,  182 
"\SJatters,    Mr.,    Acting    Consul    at 

Canton,  332,  333 
Whakarewarewa  hot  springs,  273 
Wenlock,     Elizabeth,     Lady,     nee 

Grosvenor,  31,  56 
Wellington,  Arthur,  Duke  of,  3 
Wellington  in  New  Zealand,  273 
Westfahlen,  Coimt,  216 
Westminster,    Constance,    Duchess 

of,  92 
Westminster,  1st  Duke  of,  33 
Westminster,  Marchioness  of,  19,  33 
Westminster,  Marquis  of,  5,  32,  33 
White,   Miss,  lady  doctor  at  Hy- 
derabad, 161 
White,  Sir  William  and  Lady,  233, 

234 
William  I,  Emperor,  101,  102  ;   his 

pictiu-e  in  Tonga,  288 
William,  Prince,  afterwards  William 

II,  26,  27,  104 
Willes,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Charles,  their 

New  Year's  Party,  54-56 
Wister,  Owen,  American  author,  53 
Wolmer,    Lord    and    Lady,    after- 
wards    Earl    and    Countess    of 
Selborne,  114 
Wolseley,  F.M.  Viscount,  115,  118 
Wombwell,  George,  death  of,  172 
Wombwell,  Lady  Julia,  63 

Xavier,  St.  Francis,  in  Japan,  341 

Y 

Yandall,  Samoan  interpreter,  313 
Yarrangobilly  Caves,  266-268 
Yokohama,  346 


Zante,  island  of,  139,  140 


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